The debate in the state Legislation about whether to impose caps on jury awards pits plaintiffs' lawyers against doctors and business groups.

A special 10-member House committee has been meeting since August on the issue and plans to write recommendations before the Legislature reconvenes in January.

South Carolina First, a coalition of state medical and business groups, supported a bill introduced this year that would cap punitive and noneconomic "pain-and-suffering" damages at $250,000.

"When you have outrageous awards, that cost is passed on to everybody else," Cam Crawford, South Carolina First's director, said Tuesday.

Dr. Boyce Tollison of Easley, president of the S.C. Medical Association, said skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance rates are forcing certain specialists, such as obstetricians, out of business and causing other doctors to quit performing high-risk procedures.

Columbia lawyer Luther Battiste, president of the S.C. Trial Lawyers Association, and Columbia lawyer Ken Suggs, vice president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, say punitive awards are necessary.

"If you don't have consequences for behavior that is reprehensible, then the public will not be protected," Battiste said.

Contrary to critics' claims, punitive awards are uncommon in state lawsuits, the lawyers said.