Supreme Court case threatens lawsuit cap

Editorials

June 25, 2010

Anonymous Associated Press Fri Jun 25, 2010, 12:15 PM CDT

JACKSON — Mississippi’s Supreme Court is presently weighing a case that threatens to undermine the state’s efforts to rein in lawsuit abuse.

Earlier this month, the justices heard arguments about a civil judgment in a Humphreys County case that left both sides unhappy.

In 2008, a jury awarded Ronnie Lee Lymas $4.17 million after he was shot while leaving a convenience store in Belzoni. The jury agreed with Lymas that Double Quick Inc. didn’t do enough to ensure his safety.

The judge in the case reduced the verdict to $1.67 million, in compliance with a 2004 state law that caps pain and suffering and other non-economic damages at $1 million.

Double Quick wants the verdict overturned; Lymas’ attorneys want the $4.17 million judgment restored. And a host of other parties, including Gov. Haley Barbour, have weighed in, saying that, regardless of the liability issue, the damage cap must be upheld or this state will once again be home to a “jackpot justice” system that was scaring away doctors and employers.

As far as the merits of the case, it is hard to see how a reasonable jury could think Double Quick should have prevented the assault on Lymas. He was shot in the back in the store’s parking lot 11 times in broad daylight. Security cameras would not have prevented what happened. Is the jury saying that every business has to have round-the-clock manned security on the chance that someone, sometime might be hurt by a criminal element that comes onto their property at the same time? ...

The questionable merits of the case notwithstanding, what should not prevail is the plaintiff’s attempt to throw out damage caps. Mississippi, through its elected representatives, decided how much could be awarded for the nebulous category of non-economic damages. The state had become a haven for lawsuits, in part because it allowed plaintiffs’ attorneys to manipulate the sympathies of juries for “the little man” to award damages that had no rational basis. Because the system was completely unpredictable, liability insurance became not just more expensive but harder to obtain.

— The Greenwood (Miss.) Commonwealth

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