The Journal Record

g
GAVEL TO GAVEL
May
23
Will Legislature
2019
respond to
Page decision?
A008 The Oklahoma Supreme Court
recently held unconstitutional the
Clip
Oklahoma statute that caps a plaintiff’s
resized
recovery of noneconomic damages at
61% $350,000 for personal injuries, with a
few exceptions.
The case was originally brought
in the District Court of Oklahoma
County. In the original trial, the Okla-
homa County jury
returned a verdict
in favor of James
Todd Beason for
$14 million and his
wife for $1 million
for the injuries that
Mr. Beason sus-
HARRY tained while on an
oil and gas rig site.
‘SKEETER’ The injuries to Mr.
JORDAN Beason occurred
when a boom from
a crane that was moving a mud pump
at the rig site fell and hit him.
The district court determined that
$5 million of Mr. Beason’s award and
his wife’s entire award were noneco-
nomic damages. Because such damages
were determined to be noneconomic,
the district court reduced Mr. Bea-
son’s award and his wife’s award to
$350,000 each pursuant to the statute
in question. The Beasons appealed the
reduction of the awards by the district
court, challenging the constitutionality
of the statute.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court’s
decision relied upon the Oklahoma
Constitution provision that prohibits
the Legislature from passing special
laws regarding certain subjects. The
court, relying on previous jurispru-
dence, indicated that special laws are
laws that treat a portion of a group
of similarly situated people differ-
ently. According to the court, the
statute is unconstitutional under this
constitutional provision because “it
purports to limit recovery for pain
and suffering in cases where the
plaintiff survives the injury-causing
event, while persons who die from
the injury-causing event face no such
limitation.”
The Oklahoma Legislature passed
the statute at issue in 2011 in an at-
tempt to reform tort litigation in the
state. With this holding nullifying the
statute, it will be interesting to see if
and how the Legislature responds to
the decision.

Harry “Skeeter” Jordan is a Crowe &

Dunlevy attorney and member of the
firm’s Energy, Environment & Natural Re-
sources Practice Group.

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