Courthouse officials across Oklahoma have reported a surge in civil cases being filed ahead of a law that took effect Nov. 1 that caps the amount of damages plaintiffs in bodily injury lawsuits can collect for pain and suffering.
The $350,000 cap on non-economic damages, often called pain and suffering, is one of several changes to the state’s civil justice system that are scheduled to become law.
“It’s a madhouse today,” Carlene Voss, the head of the Tulsa County Court Clerk’s civil division, said on Oct. 31. “Most of us will stay late tonight trying to get everything done.”
While about 50 civil cases will be filed on an average day, Voss said 187 were filed on Oct. 28.
Similar increases were reported in other counties across the state. In Oklahoma County, the state’s largest county, between 300 and 500 civil cases are filed in an average month. About 600 cases were filed on Oct. 31 alone, said Tim Rhodes, chief deputy with the court clerk’s office.
“The dust hasn’t really settled yet, but we think we about 2,200 (cases) for the month of October,” Rhodes said. “That’s a significant uptick.”
Even in smaller counties, such as Kingfisher County in northwest Oklahoma, the number of civil cases being filed has risen. Typically one to two civil cases are filed in an average week, but eight have been filed there in the last two weeks, Court Clerk Yvonne Dow said.
“For our county, that is a big increase,” Dow said. “It truly is unusual.”
The new cap applies only to pain and suffering damages, and not damages like lost wages or medical costs. The cap also does not apply to wrongful death cases or if a defendant is determined to have acted intentionally or with gross negligence, fraud or malice.
Supporters of the cap say it will reduce insurance costs for businesses and doctors and make Oklahoma a more business-friendly state.
“One long-time hurdle to business growth and economic performance has been the strain that unnecessary legal fees have placed on private enterprise, especially in the medical community,” Gov. Mary Fallin said in a statement. “The new, comprehensive lawsuit reform measures passed this year will help to address those costs while still protecting the legal rights of all parties.”
But opponents maintain the cap will prevent injured Oklahomans from being properly compensated and unfairly stacks the legal deck against people who are hurt because of another’s wrongdoing.
“The most injured Oklahomans are the ones who will be most negatively affected by these new laws, and that’s the true tragedy of this law,” said trial attorney Jacob Diesselhorst.
Rex Travis, president of the Oklahoma Association for Justice, said he is confident the $350,000 cap on non-economic damages will ultimately be ruled unconstitutional because of a provision in the Oklahoma Constitution that prohibits laws that require a court to direct juries to make “findings of particular questions of fact.”
Travis, whose organization previously was known as the Oklahoma Trial Lawyers Association, said he has been encouraging members working on civil cases to have them filed before Nov. 1.
Other civil justice changes that took effect include an increase in filing fees for civil cases and a requirement that juries be instructed that civil damage awards are not subject to taxation. Lawmakers also approved a bill to eliminate “joint and several liability,” which prevents defendants in civil cases from having to pay judgments that exceed what they were actually responsible for.
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