20 states plus Washington, DC have no cap on noneconomic damages.
– These include progressive states such as New York, Washington, and Connecticut as well as conservative states like Alabama, Wyoming, and Kentucky.
California is 1 of just 3 states with a cap as low as $250,000 with no exceptions. $250,000 is the lowest cap in the country. (Montana and Texas are the other two)
In just 2019, 3 states either overturned their caps or adjusted them for inflation.
– Kansas’ Supreme Court overturned a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages
– Oklahoma’s Supreme Court found that all caps on damages in personal injury cases are unconstitutional
– Colorado’s legislature passed a bill that will allow for the caps of non-economic and wrongful death damages to be adjusted in accordance with inflation every two years
Another state’s cap is currently being challenged
– New Mexico has a case pending before the Supreme Court that could affirm a lower court’s ruling to overturn the state’s $600,000 medical malpractice cap
12 states have adjusted or overturned their caps in the past decade (Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia)
– Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Illinois, and Oklahoma overturned in the past decade.
14 caps include exceptions in cases, for example, of wrongful death or catastrophic injury. (Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia)
8 caps include provisions for periodic adjustment according to inflation rates. (Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia)
California is 1 of just 5 states that has a statute of limitations as short as 1 year. (The others are Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee)
Full list of 21 states & DC with no cap:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wyoming.
