Opinion ID: 1711317
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Open Courts and Certain Remedy

Text: The Fishers assert that section 537.610 violates their fundamental right of access to the courts and to a certain remedy under article I, section 14 of the Missouri Constitution. This Court has distinguished between statutes that impose procedural bars to access, and statutes that change the common law by the elimination (or limitation of) a cause of action. Adams, 832 S.W.2d at 905. The former are not permitted; the latter are a valid exercise of a legislative prerogative. Id. The constitutional right of access means simply the right to pursue in the courts the causes of action the substantive law recognizes. Wheeler v. Briggs, 941 S.W.2d 512, 514 (Mo. banc 1997). Here, section 537.610 does not bar access. At common law, there was no right to sue the State for tort damages. The legislature can create a cause of action, but limit it. See Findley, 782 S.W.2d at 396. Section 537.610 limits a cause of action by capping damages for tort claims against the State, and does not violate article I, section 14.