(12-27) 10:50 PST CINCINNATI (AP) —

The Ohio Supreme Court upheld a state law Thursday that limits how much a person injured by a defective product can collect in pain-and-suffering damages, reversing its stance on a closely watched issue.

Attorneys representing injured people and companies that support the concept of caps have followed the lawsuit filed by Melisa Arbino, a Cincinnati property manager, over the Ortho Evra Birth Control Patch made by New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson. She contended the product caused her permanent physical damage and threatened her ability to have children, and her lawyer argued that limits on damages were unconstitutional.

The majority opinion in the 5-2 ruling, written by Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer, said the Ohio law revised did not violate the constitutional rights of injured parties to trial by jury, to a remedy for their injuries or to due process and equal protection.

“The decision in this case affirms the General Assembly’s efforts over the last several decades to enact meaningful tort reforms,” Moyer wrote.

In one of its challenged provisions, the law caps awards at $250,000 or three times the amount of economic damages, whichever is greater, up to an absolute limit of $350,000. The exception is when a plaintiff suffers permanent disability or loss of a limb or bodily organ system.

In another, the law prohibits awards for punitive damages exceeding two times the amount of the compensatory damages awarded the same defendant.

The court threw out a similar law in 1999 in a decision that prompted businesses to criticize Democratic justices who voted against the legislation. Since then, the court has become an all-Republican bench. In the 1999 vote, two Republicans joined the court’s two Democrats in striking down the law, which was revised in 2004.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and the National Federation of Independent Business Legal Foundation had joined in urging the court to uphold the law.

Groups urging the court to overturn it included the Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers, the Ohio Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

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On the Net:

Ohio Supreme Court: «www.sconet.state.oh.us»

Batteries to cost Nokia about $5 million in India

Nokia, which announced a voluntary worldwide recall of as many as 46 million mobile phone batteries earlier this month, said Tuesday that it would replace about 300,000 units in India after irate users thronged outlets following news that some batteries had overheated.

Nokia received almost six million complaints in India, of which about 5 percent will require battery replacements, said Devinder Kishore, the Nokia India marketing director. At 700 rupees apiece, about 210 million rupees, or $5.1 million, will be spent to replace the BL-5C batteries made by Matsushita Electric Industrial.

Separately, Nokia introduced its new high-speed 6555 clamshell phone with a screen designed for viewing photos and videos. Its estimated retail price is \200, or $270, the company said.

Bollorй increases stake in advertising group

The French billionaire Vincent Bollorй bought 1.68 million shares in Havas earlier this month, lifting his direct and indirect stake in the French advertising group to about 31 percent.

Under French law, an investor whose stake exceeds 33.3 percent has to offer to buy all outstanding shares, unless given a regulatory exemption.

Bebo gets Microsoft IM

Bebo, the social-networking site, said it would offer a Microsoft-powered instant-messaging program this fall.

Bebo users will be able to click a link to start an IM session with any other Bebo member, even if neither has a Windows Live ID.

They will also be able to exchange messages with Bebo friends who are not logged on, but who are using the regular Windows Live Messenger program. But Bebo users will not be able to send instant messages to Windows Live Messenger users who do not have Bebo accounts.

ESPN, the sports network owned by Walt Disney, said it had bought Scrum.com, a leading rugby news Web site, as part of its bid to move beyond American sports.

A Dow Jones vice president, Paul Ingrassia, said he would quit. He is the first top executive to announce he would leave since News Corp. said it would buy the publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

Benoit Bought Many Steroids, Papers Say Pro Wrestler Benoit Bought Excessive Amounts of Injectable Steroids, Papers Say By HARRY R. WEBER Associated Press Writer The Associated Press

ATLANTA

The pro wrestler who strangled his wife and son and committed suicide last month bought injectable steroids excessively, according to court papers released Monday. His doctor was charged with improperly prescribing drugs to other patients.

Dr. Phil Astin prescribed a 10-month supply of anabolic steroids to Chris Benoit every three to four weeks between May 2006 and May 2007, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent said in an affidavit filed Friday and made public Monday.

During a probe of “RX Weight Loss,” Benoit was identified as an excessive buyer of injectable steroids, the document states. Prosecutors would not say what “RX Weight Loss” is.

The affidavit also said Astin supplied various controlled substances, including injectable anabolic steroids, that were found in Benoit’s home.

Astin has not been charged with supplying steroids to Benoit, though U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias said more charges are possible.

The anabolic steroids found in Benoit’s home led officials to wonder whether the drugs played a role in the killings that started the weekend of June 22. Some experts believe steroids can cause paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as “roid rage.” Toxicology tests on Benoit’s body have not been completed.

A federal indictment issued Monday charges Astin with improperly dispensing painkillers and other drugs to two different patients.

Prosecutors allege in the seven-count indictment that Astin dispensed drugs including Percocet, Xanax, Lorcet and Vicoprofen between April 2004 and September 2005. The recipients were identified in the indictment by the initials O.G. and M.J.; Benoit’s initials were not listed.

Astin pleaded not guilty and was being held in lieu of $125,000 bond. He will be under house arrest once he posts bond and must surrender his medical license, U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Walker ordered.

Astin had written prescriptions for about 1 million doses of controlled substances over the past two years, including “significant quantities” of injectable testosterone cypionate, an anabolic steroid, according to the criminal complaint.

The complaint by Drug Enforcement Administration agent Anissa Jones said the amount of prescriptions was “excessive” for a medical office with a sole practitioner in a rural area like Carrollton, about 40 miles west of Atlanta.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Horn said that when agents raided the doctor’s office Wednesday, Astin was carrying Benoit’s medical file.

Astin’s attorney, Manny Arora, said the doctor had brought the file because he thought the authorities would want it.

Federal drug agents have taken over the probe into whether Astin improperly prescribed testosterone and other drugs to Benoit before the killings and suicide in the wrestler’s suburban Atlanta home last month. State prosecutors and sheriff’s officials are overseeing the death investigation.

Investigators have conducted two raids at Astin’s west Georgia office since last week.

Astin prescribed testosterone for Benoit, a longtime friend, in the past but has not said what, if any, medications he prescribed when Benoit visited his office June 22, the day authorities believe Benoit killed his wife.

“We’re still asking questions and searching for answers with regard to the death so we can tie up loose ends,” said Scott Ballard, Fayette County district attorney.

Authorities have said Benoit strangled his wife and son, placing Bibles next to their bodies, before hanging himself with the cable of a weight machine in his home.

The boy had old needle marks in his arms, Ballard has said. He said he had been told the parents considered him undersized and had given him growth hormones.

Benoit’s father, Michael, said Monday that “it’s impossible to come up with a rational explanation for a very irrational act.”

“Let the cards fall where they fall, we have no control over it at this point,” he said.

Associated Press writers Errin Haines and Greg Bluestein in Atlanta and Matt Apuzzo in Washington contributed to this report.