What Drives the Passage of Damage Caps?

This is the question addressed by Jonathan Klick (Penn) and Cathy Sharkey (NYU Law) in their SSRN posting of the same name.  Here is the abstract:

A number of states have passed caps on non-economic and punitive damage awards in civil cases. The conventional wisdom is that the passage of these caps is driven by “out-of-control” jury awards that need to be reigned in. However, it could be the case that voters harboring anti-litigation, pro-tort reform sentiments are more likely to support the passage of caps even in the absence of an upsurge in awards. To examine the effect of jury awards on the passage of caps, we estimate semi-parametric hazard models of cap passage using data from the Jury Verdict Research Reporter.

–CJR