More than a dozen years after a fierce political fight about the state’s medical-malpractice laws, the Florida Supreme Court heard arguments about the constitutionality of limits on damages in malpractice lawsuits.

The Broward County case stems from injuries suffered in 2007 by dental assistant Susan Kalitan, who went into surgery for carpal-tunnel syndrome and ended up with a perforated esophagus because of tubes inserted into her mouth and esophagus during the anesthesia process.