Beason v. I.E. Miller Services, Inc.

Case Updates

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The U.S. Chamber and the Oklahoma Chamber filed an amicus brief urging the Oklahoma Supreme Court to uphold a legislative cap on noneconomic damages for personal injury cases. Plaintiffs challenged the cap as unconstitutional, arguing, among other things, that the cap unconstitutionally usurps the role of juries and improperly limits the remedies available to plaintiffs. According to the amicus brief, the legislation is a permissible exercise of the Oklahoma legislature’s authority to establish standards of proof and to alter substantive rights because, among other reasons, the Oklahoma legislature’s rational purpose for the noneconomic damages cap was to preserve the state as attractive to business interests. The brief argues that noneconomic damages are often unpredictable and excessive, but that damages caps such as this help mitigate those concerns and protect the due process rights of defendants.

V. Glenn Coffee and Denise K. Lawson of Glenn Coffee & Associates, PLLC served as co-counsel for the amici.