COLUMBUS - Three years after a court ruling against limits on jury awards, GOP lawmakers are trying to chip away at the close decision with a series of more specific bills.

        At least four proposed laws are pending in the Ohio House and Senate to try again to cap damages individuals may receive from lawsuits.

        Last week, U.S. Sen. George Voinovich called for such legislation at the state and federal level.

        As Ohio governor, Mr. Voinovich, a Republican, signed the 1996 law that the Ohio Supreme Court struck down, in a 4-3 vote, in 1999. The court said the law violated the constitutional separation of powers between the courts and the Legislature.

        Twice this summer, Gov. Bob Taft, also a Republican, made speeches urging lawmakers to pass such bills, known as tort reform legislation.

        “When courts intervene and strike down a bill as overly broad, there's naturally an effort to craft a bill that's more narrow,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Governmental Studies. “That's true whether it's tort reform, health care, abortion, what have you.”

        One Ohio bill backed by doctors would place a $300,000 cap on awards for pain and suffering in medical malpractice lawsuits.

        Another, backed by small businesses, would limit the financial damages to a defendant's level of responsibility in an accident.

        For example, if a jury determined that a township's neglect of road repair was 10 percent at fault, the township would pay just 10 percent of a jury award. Under current law, a governmental entity can pay a much higher percentage despite minimal responsibility.

        Two other tort reform bills in the Republican-controlled Legislature:

        Legislation sponsored by Rep. Ron Young of Painesville would prevent someone from recovering money in a personal injury lawsuit if the person was injured while committing a crime.

        Legislation sponsored by Sen. Jay Hottinger of Newark would limit the liability of schools in injury lawsuits to injuries that occur only because of the condition of school facilities or property.

        “There needs to be some controls put in place and some reasonableness put back in the system,” said Ray Mazzotta, president of Columbus-based insurance company OHIC, which supports the legislation capping medical malpractice awards.

        Trial lawyers say tort reform supporters aren't just trying to change state law. They want to create a campaign issue in this fall's two Ohio Supreme Court races, said Richard Mason, executive director of the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers.

        “That's offensive to us as representatives of people injured or killed by mistakes by doctors,” he said.

        Business groups critical of the court's decisions on school funding and jury awards are backing two Republican candidates in the hope for a more conservative court.

        Tim Maglione, a spokesman for the Ohio State Medical Association, denied attempts to link tort reform with the Supreme Court races. The association backs caps on malpractice awards.

        “Our organization would like to see a change in judicial philosophy on the high court, and it's for a lot of reasons, not just this whole discussion of civil justice reforms,” Mr. Maglione said.

        Mr. Sabato said experience shows that a more targeted law likely would win court approval.

        “Assuming a court holds to its original reasoning, and the Legislature does a good job of narrowing the scope of the legislation, it frequently is considered constitutional on the second go-around.”

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