Topeka ? The top Democrat in the Kansas House says the state should increase its $250,000 limit on damages for pain and suffering in personal injury lawsuits.

House Minority Leader Paul Davis of Lawrence criticized a Kansas Supreme Court ruling Friday upholding the cap as constitutional.

Davis is an attorney, and his law firm once handled the case of Eudora resident Amy Miller, whose appeal was decided by the ruling. Miller sued her doctor for removing the wrong ovary during surgery in 2002 and had her award of nearly $760,000 in damages reduced because of the cap.

Davis said the Supreme Court ruling means that other Kansans will have similar experiences.

The law imposing the cap was enacted in 1988, and the Republican-dominated Legislature has repeatedly refused to raise it.