Mississippi's new tort reform law limiting jury awards to $1 million for non-economic damages went into effect today, and lawyers scrambled Tuesday to file lawsuits before the change.
In Leflore County Circuit Court, six times the number of civil suits were filed in August 2004 compared to August 2003.
Twenty-five were filed Tuesday, increasing last month's total to 60, Deputy Circuit Clerk Diane Kelly said.
"There have been quite a number in the last two weeks," she said.
Circuit Clerk Trey Evans said there was a similar flurry in advance of a law limiting medical malpractice awards to $500,000 starting Jan. 1, 2003.
Lawmakers passed the new law during a June special session. The caps on non-economic damages cover awards for pain and suffering. The new law also sets punitive damage awards at a percentage of the company's net worth.
Lex Taylor, chairman of Mississippians for Economic Progress, said in a written statement from the Ridgeland-based organization that today marks "the beginning of balancing the interests of the plaintiff with the interests of the defendant."
Trial lawyers say the new caps wrongfully limit people's right to recover losses.
The caps may prevent people from hiring lawyers because bringing some civil cases can be expensive, said lawyer Jim McHugh, whose firm Wilkes & McHugh of Tampa, Fla., specializes in nursing home abuse cases.
Hughes' firm filed seven suits in Leflore County last month against Mariner Health Care and one of its nursing homes, Greenwood Health and Rehabilitation Center, Kelly said.
Patrick Malouf, a Jackson lawyer who grew up in Greenwood, filed one of the Tuesday suits in Leflore County.
The complaint on behalf of three Mississippi residents names 280 defendants, including 3M, also known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co., and claims the plaintiffs became ill from asbestos exposure.
Another Leflore County case against 3M was filed by a Fort Worth, Texas, attorney, Jim Zadeh, on behalf of 13 plaintiffs from Leflore and Carroll counties. The suit claims ill effects from silica exposure and names 144 defendants.
