ATLANTA - Attorneys for a woman who was awarded more than a million dollars after she received a botched face lift asked Georgia's top court on Tuesday to overturn a state law that caps damages in medical malpractice lawsuits at $350,000.

The case centers on a Georgia tort reform law passed in 2005 that caps the amount a jury can award for malpractice victims' pain and suffering. The laws were an attempt by lawmakers to ease the high malpractice insurance costs linked to large payoffs.

On Tuesday, attorneys debated before the Georgia Supreme Court whether the Legislature setting the limit overstepped their bounds.

Attorneys for Betty Nestlehutt, who was awarded more than $1.2 million after a 2006 facelift despite the law, said the law overturns a jury's centuries-old right to determine how much to compensate a victim. Nestlehutt was a real estate agent who wanted to improve her face to better compete with younger agents, according to her attorneys.

Lawyers for Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery said years of judgments have established the Legislature's right to alter judicial remedies as they see fit.

"For 200 years its been the exclusive province of the jury to set damages," attorney Michael Terry told justices, later adding that "the reason there's no case law on this is the legislature has long recognized they cannot take damage issues away from the jury."

A Fulton County judge struck down the law in February, declaring it unconstitutional. If upheld, Terry said the law would erode a jury's role in weighing facts to determining what a victim deserved for pain and suffering, instead of taking into account details of each case.

Justice George H. Carley questioned whether it could pave the way for lawmakers to take more sweeping steps.

"Could the legislature eliminate non-economic liability entirely?" he asked.

Doctors and hospitals contended the measure would suppress rising malpractice insurance rates and help lure more doctors to Georgia. Business lobbies, too, supported the bill because it encourages speedy out-of-court settlements and penalizes parties who file frivolous lawsuits.

But trial lawyers have argued that the state's medical insurer fostered a false crisis by driving up premiums in a market with no competition and that limiting damage awards puts an arbitrary price on a victim's life.

In 2006, Nestlehutt, then 71, decided to have surgery to smooth bags under her eyes and lines around her mouth. Nestlehutt was the face of her real estate business, and had found increasing competition from younger real estate agents.

She consulted with Dr. Harvey "Chip" Cole at Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery and eventually had a face lift combined with carbon dioxide laser resurfacing of her face.

Several weeks later, attorney Adam Malone said, she experienced a rash and peeling that left her with permanent scars and purple discoloration on her face.

A jury awarded the Nestlehutts an amount that exceeded the cap under tort reform laws.