Ohio Strikes Again on Tort Reform

Insurers and business interests appear to have won another victory in Ohio, as Gov. Robert Taft will soon sign a broad tort reform bill that caps jury awards and limits products and obesity liability. This follows on the heels of Ohio’s first-in-the-nation legislation requiring asbestos and silica claimants to meet certain medical illness criteria before proceeding with their cases.

Taft, a Republican, had warned the Ohio Legislature in a letter that not passing Senate Bill 80 would be “a tremendous failure.” The bill caps noneconomic damage awards at $350,000 and places a 10-year statute of limitations on products liability, while protecting food merchants from “frivolous” obesity lawsuits.