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Published by the Indiana Office of Court Services

J.P. v. Mid American Sound, No. 49A04-1405-CT-207, __ N.E.3d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Jan. 14, 2015).

January 15, 2015 Filed Under: Civil Tagged With: Appeals, M. May

May, J.
Jordyn Polet was injured when the stage collapsed at a concert at the Indiana State Fair. Polet declined the State’s settlement offer, and the State distributed, to the claimants who were willing to settle, all the money available under the Indiana Tort Claims Act (ITCA) cap of five million dollars. After her parents sued the State and others, the State asserted, as an affirmative defense, that the ITCA made it immune to Polet’s claim.
Polet moved for partial summary judgment on the State’s affirmative defense it was immune under the ITCA. The trial court denied her motion. Polet argues the limits on the State’s aggregate tort liability, as applied to her, violate the Indiana Constitution’s open courts and equal privileges guarantees. We affirm.
….
Polet characterizes herself as “a claimant with a valid, accrued cause of action authorized by statute,” but who “has no practical means of asserting it” just because she declined a settlement offer she felt was inadequate and because the State paid the maximum amount of its liability to others. (Plaintiff-Appellant’s Opening Br. (hereinafter “Polet Br.”) at 12.)
We note initially the aggregate liability caps in the ITCA have been found constitutional: “The legislative purpose behind the liability limitations was to protect the financial integrity of a governmental entity, and this statutory provision cannot be deemed repugnant to the constitution merely because it restricts the amount of damages available to the Class.” In re Train Collision at Gary, Ind. on Jan. 18, 1993, 654 N.E.2d 1137, 1149 (Ind. Ct. App. 1995), reh’g denied, trans. denied.
….
We note initially that nothing in the ITCA classifies claimants or “promises recovery to some while denying it to others.” (State’s Br. at 20.) The State characterizes Polet’s proposed classification as just “an incidental effect of the Act,” which treats all claimants the same, not differently. Id. at 21. In limiting the amount recoverable by individual and by incident, the ITCA applies equally to all claims and all incidents, and both categories Polet defines are subject to the individual and aggregate caps. We therefore cannot find there is a classification in the case before us that implicates the equal privileges clause.
….
CONCLUSION
The application of the ITCA aggregate liability cap to Polet did not violate the open courts clause of the Indiana constitution, nor was Polet in a class of persons treated unequally compared to other claimants seeking relief under the ITCA. We accordingly affirm.
Affirmed.
VAIDIK, C.J., and FRIEDLANDER, J., concur.
 

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