Attorneys

While Ohio law does not limit the amount of economic damages that a plaintiff may recover in a medical malpractice case, it does provide specific limits on noneconomic damages and on punitive damages. Noneconomic damages are capped at $250,000 or three times the plaintiff’s economic losses, as determined by the court.    The maximum amount of noneconomic losses that may recovered is $350,000 per defendant for a total of $500,000 per occurrence. Ohio law makes an exception to these damage caps for injuries that resulted in permanent injuries that resulted in the plaintiff’s inability to care for himself. In those cases there are no cap on the noneconomic damages that a plaintiff may recover. Punitive damages also typically have a cap. A plaintiff may not recover punitive damages that are more than two times the amount of economic damages received or a set portion of the defendant’s net worth. However, the cap on punitive damages does not apply if the defendant acted knowingly.