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One question that is important in the 2011 Tennessee tort reform legislation is whether the caps on noneconomic damages can be revealed to the jury at trial. Obviously if the jury is aware of the caps that apply to noneconomic damages and the injuries are truly catastrophic, the jury may enhance the economic damages to try to compensate the plaintiff because they know the caps will limit the noneconomic damages recovery.
T.C.A. § 29-39-102(g) answers this question clearly. It states:
(g) The limitation on the amount of noneconomic damages imposed by subdivision (a)(2) and subsections (b)-(e) shall not be disclosed to the jury, but shall be applied by the court to any award of noneconomic damages.
As a result, the $750,000.00 and $1,000,000.00 caps on noneconomic damages in T.C.A. § 29-39-102 will not be revealed to the jury. This does not necessarily mean that these caps will not be known by some juries based on the personal knowledge of certain jurors about the Tennessee tort reform legislation. However, it is likely most juries will not be aware of these caps. Overall, the fact this information will not be disclosed to the jury at trial will likely help to reduce damages in catastrophic cases because the jury will not be able to shift noneconomic damages to economic damages to compensate for the caps.
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