A Republican-sponsored law to limit the amount of punitive damages people can collect for defective products or malpractice does not violate the Ohio Constitution, the state Supreme Court ruled today.

In a 5-2 decision, the court said lawmakers didn't overstep their bounds when they capped non-economic damages at $350,000 per person and $500,000 per incident in 2005.

The court's ruling is a blow to litigants and the trial lawyer lobby, which had argued that each case is unique and juries should have the power to decide the amount of damages.

The closely watched case pitted a Cincinnati-area woman, Melisa Arbino, against the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson. Arbino sued Johnson & Johnson after its birth-control patch, Ortho Evro, caused painful and life-threatening blood clots. She sought at least $75,000, to be determined by a jury, arguing that the limits shouldn't apply.

In a decision written by Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer, the Supreme Court noted that many states have reached different conclusions about whether to restrict awards in defective-product and malpractice cases. However, Moyer wrote, the Supreme Court has no basis for overturning the Ohio law.

“This court is not the forum to second-guess such legislative choices; we must simply determine whether they comply with the Constitution,” Moyer wrote.

Moyer was joined by Justices Judith Ann Lanzinger, Evelyn Lundberg Stratton and Maureen O'Connor. Justice Robert R. Cupp agreed with the decision but entered a separate opinion. Justices Paul E. Pfeifer and Terrence O'Donnell entered separate dissents.

Pfeifer wrote that the court's ruling would allow the legislature to set any limit on damages, which would make a mockery of the jury system's ability to determine awards on a case-by-case basis.

“Under this court's reasoning, there is nothing in the Ohio Constitution to restrain the General Assembly from limiting noneconomic damages to $1,” Pfeifer wrote. “In essence, the power to cap noneconomic damages is the power to eliminate them.”

jnash@dispatch.com