The National Trial Lawyers
  • Home
    • Meet Our Team
    • Contact Us
    • Mission & Goals
    • FAQ
  • Webinars
  • News
  • Membership Directory
    • Top 100 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 100 Map – Criminal Defense
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Criminal Defense
  • Top 100
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 100 President’s Message
    • Diplomat
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 100 Badge
    • Media
  • Top 40
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Bootcamp
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 40 President’s Message
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 40 Badge
    • Media
  • Specialty Assoc
    • About
    • Shop
    • Officers
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Media
  • Nominate
    • Top 100
    • Top 40
    • Specialty Association
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer of the Year
    • Trial Team of the Year
    • America’s Most Influential Trial Lawyer
    • America’s Most Influential Law Firm
    • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Shop
  • Magazine
    • A-List
  • Education and Networking Agenda
    • Trial Lawyers Summit
      • Summit Sponsors
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Boot Camp
    • Mass Torts Made Perfect
    • The Lanier Master Class 5.0 Trial Academy 2021
    • Webinars
  • Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame

Utah Supreme Court Rules Damages Caps Unconstitutional

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Larry Bodine

utah medmalThe Utah Supreme Court ruled that damage caps in medical malpractice cases are unconstitutional and do not apply to wrongful death cases.

Prior to this decision, the Utah legislature amended the Utah Health Care Malpractice Act to impose damage caps in medical malpractice cases. However, the change did not account for wrongful death suits.

Plaintiff Gregory Lynn Smith filed a medical malpractice suit in 2010 against the VA medical center in Utah after his son, Gregory Lee Smith, died of an acute drug intoxication.  

Previous Decisions: Tennessee Judge Rules Caps on Tort Damages Unconstitutional

Smith, who had sustained  back injury in the military in 2005, was sent home from the VA hospital after receiving back surgery; the VA medical staff prescribed the medications, which contributed to his death.

Multiple Back Surgeries

Smith had undergone two surgeries before his treatment at the VA Medical Center. The third procedure at the medical center required a permanent electric stimulator, which is used to treat chronic back pain.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, instead of spending two to three days for recovery, Smith was sent home after one day despite his concerns of being discharged so early. He was sent home with morphine in addition to other prescribed medications.

The following day, Smith experienced some vomiting but refused to go to the ER and elected to go to bed around 9:30 pm. The morning of what would have been his second day home, Smith’s roommate found him dead.

Unconstitutional Damages Cap

The Utah malpractice act capped damages in a malpractice action at $450,000.

The state supreme court stated that recovery for damages includes compensation for the loss of anticipated wages, loss of assistance, care, comfort, and support of the deceased.

Recovery for the economic and noneconomic damages existed at the time that the state constitution was created and thus the damages are protected from legislative caps. However, compensation for mental anguish and suffering of survivors can be limited by the state legislature.

The US argued that because the plaintiff was entitled to compensation up to the cap they are still getting a recovery. The court rejected their argument stating simply because a plaintiff can recover damages does not translate into compensation. The Utah constitution says damages that can be recovered for injuries “shall not be subject to any statutory limitation.”

This case is Gregory Lynn Smith v. United States of America, Case no. 20131030, in the Supreme Court of the State of Utah

Posted in Blog, Medical Malpractice, Wrongful death

Comments are closed.

News Categories

Subscribe to Blog and VFJ via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog, the Voice for Justice and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Read about other Top Jury Verdicts

Toyota Will Pay $180M to Settle Violations of the Clean-Air Act

Toyota Will Pay $180M to Settle Violations of the Clean-Air Act

The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that the United States has[Read More...]
Boeing's Insitu Will Pay $25M to Settle a Whistleblower Complaint About Used Drone Parts

Boeing's Insitu Will Pay $25M to Settle a Whistleblower Complaint About Used Drone Parts

Bingen, Wash.-based Insitu, a Boeing subsidiary, has agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations that it used recycl[Read More...]
Deutsche Bank Agrees to Settle Criminal and Civil Charges for $130M

Deutsche Bank Agrees to Settle Criminal and Civil Charges for $130M

DEUTSCHE Bank AG agreed to pay US$130 million to settle criminal and civil charges that it bribed foreign officials and manip[Read More...]
Boeing Pays $2.5B to Settle Charges Tied to the 737 MAX Crashes

Boeing Pays $2.5B to Settle Charges Tied to the 737 MAX Crashes

Boeing has agreed to pay just over $2.5 billion to resolve a federal charge of “criminal misconduct” for how its [Read More...]
Texas Attorney General Seeks $43M in Google Antitrust Lawsuit

Texas Attorney General Seeks $43M in Google Antitrust Lawsuit

The mass exodus of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's top staff over accusations of bribery against their former boss has le[Read More...]

#LegalNews

@@TheNTLtop100

Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Attorney information and content provided on this website is provided for the benefit of members of The National Trial Lawyers and as a public service by Legal Associations Management, Inc. The website and all data are the property of Legal Associations Management, Inc. Data, including without limitation attorney information and content, on the site may not be mined, sold, or used commercially for any purpose without the explicit written consent of Legal Associations Management, Inc. This site may not be accessed by any automated program for extracting data for any use. By accessing and using the site you agree that you will not develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots, or any other means or processes (including crawlers, browser plug-ins and add-ons, or any other technology) to scrape data or otherwise copy profiles and other data. Unauthorized use or attempted unauthorized use of this system may subject you to both civil and criminal penalties.