Ohio Statehouse
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Lawmakers in Ohio are considering raising caps on certain court damages, as early next year they will weigh a bill that groups have warned could harm the state’s business climate.
House Bill 447 creeps Ohio toward so-called “nuclear verdicts” – an increasingly used term that describes massive judgments that are often made up mostly of non-economic damages, like pain and suffering – the Ohio Chamber of Commerce testified before the Ohio House Judiciary Committee.
While there is no limit on economic damages, Ohio does have caps on non-economic damages that the Chamber says have helped residents with insurance costs. The current cap is $350,000, but HB 447 would increase it to $580,000.
The legislation also calls for yearly increases determined by the Consumer Price Index.
The current cap “helps ensure reasonable limits on what a court can award parties for subjective non-monetary damages and plays an important role in Ohio’s economy by maintaining a stable civil justice system,” the Chamber said.
“Today, Ohio has some of the most competitive insurance markets in the country. Ohio consistently ranks as a top 10 state for most affordable auto insurance premiums and top 15 state for most affordable home insurance rates,” it added.
“In fact, the average cost of homeowners insurance in Ohio is approximately 30 percent lower than the national average.”
Marathon Strategies recently studied nuclear verdicts (more than $10 million) and what it is calling "thermonuclear" verdicts (more than $100 million) in 2024. Of 135 verdicts exceeding $10 million, 49 surpassed $100 million. There were only 27 of those thermonuclear verdicts in 2023.
One example came in a Pennsylvania case against Exxon, which was hit with a $725 million verdict mostly consisting of non-economic damages in a case alleging benzene in its gasoline caused a man’s leukemia.
There are no guidelines for jurors when they decide these damages, allowing plaintiff lawyers to spin tales of corporate greed to them to raise their anger. The lawyers suing Exxon at trial wrote on an easel that it sells 12.5 billion gallons of gasoline each year and added $3 per gallon on it.
But these situations aren’t happening often in Ohio thanks to its current cap. The Marathon study showed just two nuclear verdicts there in 2024, though a 10-year study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce showed 27 from 2013-22.
Colorado and New Hampshire have passed legislation to increase their caps, while Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill that would have placed a $1 million cap on non-economic damages in cases against commercial auto carriers.
The Ohio House Judiciary Committee did not list the bill on its final scheduled committee day of this session, which means it will be 2026 before it is considered.
The current cap does not cover medical-malpractice cases alleging “catastrophic” injuries, like the loss of a limb or a “substantial deformity,” and the new bill does not change that.
