SALEM, Ore. -- The Oregon Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could open public employees to liability claims, and compel their agencies to pay them.

The court decided this week to consider whether a 1967 law that limits claims against governments violates the constitutional right to a trial by jury and whether Oregon Health & Science University can invoke the law.

The state and county and city governments are not parties to the lawsuit, but all are expected to file friend-of-the-court briefs.

The case involves a multimillion-dollar suit against seven individual defendants, including five doctors, by the family of Jordaan Michael Clarke. While in intensive care at OHSU hospital in 1998, Clarke suffered permanent brain damage.

By substituting itself for the defendants, OHSU limited its liability to $200,000 under the Oregon Tort Claims Act.

The law limits jury awards for economic and noneconomic damages against agencies to $100,000 in each category, and to a total of $500,000 in cases involving death. The law also allows an agency to substitute itself for individual employees as the sole defendant in work-related claims.

The state Court of Appeals ruled July 5 that the combined limits applying to OHSU and its employees violate a constitutional right of an injured person to seek a full remedy in court.

Representatives of city and county associations said if that decision stands, the limits on liability of public agencies are gone.