Richard Lucas, Petitioners v. United States of America, Respondent

Summary

The Texas Supreme Court held that the statutory limits on non‑medical damages in Tex. Rev. Civ. Stat. Ann. art. 4590i §§ 11.02 and 11.03 violate the Texas Constitution’s open‑courts guarantee (Art. I, §13) because they unreasonably restrict a plaintiff’s right of redress without an adequate substitute. The Court applied the test from Sax v. Votteler and found the caps arbitrary and unreasonable. Separate opinions dissent on the constitutionality of the caps and one concurrence cautions that caps might be permissible if an alternative remedy were provided.