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Fall 2015
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Fourth District Court of Appeal Rejects Caps on Noneconomic Damages in
Non-Wrongful Death, Personal Injury Medical Malpractice Cases
By: Eric Nowak and Chris Bonti
In the landmark case of McCall v. United States, the Florida Supreme Court held that Florida’s statutory caps on noneconomic damages in wrongful death medical malpractice cases were unconstitutional. In McCall, the court held that the caps violated Florida’s Equal Protection Clause because they imposed “unfair and illogical burdens on injured parties” when multiple claimants were involved. Since McCall, attorneys representing medical providers have argued that the McCall ruling was limited to wrongful death medical malpractice cases which had multiple claimants. This left all parties in medical malpractice cases speculating whether the caps on noneconomic damages applied in personal injury medical malpractice cases with single claimants or whether they are unconstitutional as well.
For the first time since McCall, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in North Broward Hospital District v. Kalitan held that Florida’s statutory caps on noneconomic damages in personal injury, single claimant medical malpractice cases were unconstitutional based on the equal protection doctrine. In Kalitan, the Plaintiff suffered catastrophic injuries because of medical negligence that occurred during surgery to treat carpel tunnel syndrome in her wrist. During that surgery her esophagus was perforated, the perforation went undiagnosed, and the plaintiff was discharged from the hospital later that afternoon (despite complaints of pain in her chest and back). The following day she returned to the hospital and was rushed into emergency surgery. She spent several weeks in a drug induced coma and suffered from ongoing pain as a result of the negligence. At trial, the jury awarded the Plaintiff $4 million in noneconomic damages ($2 million for past pain and suffering and $2 million for future pain and suffering). However, pursuant to Florida’s statutory caps, the trial judge reduced her noneconomic damages award by nearly $2 million. The Plaintiff appealed, challenging the constitutionality of the statutory caps.
To discern the constitutionality of the statutory caps, the court applied the rational basis test. Adhering to McCall, the court opined that capping noneconomic damages for medical malpractice cases could no longer rationally and reasonably relate to a legitimate state objective because the purported medical malpractice crisis, which precipitated the statutory caps, no longer existed. Consequently, the court found that the statutory caps on noneconomic damages in personal injury medical malpractice cases violated Florida’s Equal Protection Clause and found that the Plaintiff was entitled to the full $4 million in noneconomic damages awarded by the jury. The Court held:
…[A]dhering to McCall, the section 766.118 caps are unconstitutional not only in wrongful death actions, but also in personal injury suits as they violate equal protection. It makes no difference that the caps apply horizontally to multiple claimants in a wrongful death case (as in McCall) or vertically to a single claimant in a personal injury case who suffers noneconomic damages in excess of the caps (as in the case here). Whereas the caps on noneconomic damages in section 766.118 fully compensate those individuals with noneconomic damages in an amount that falls below the caps, injured parties with noneconomic damages in excess of the caps are not fully compensated.
Kalitan is a significant development in Florida medical malpractice jurisprudence. Kalitan answers one of the most anticipated questions for all parties involved in medical malpractice litigation. While it is uncertain whether other district courts will follow suit, it is the only precedent to clearly address the issue. This case should help guide parties on both sides of medical malpractice litigation to assess the value of risks inherent in all medical malpractice cases.
For additional information on this issue, please contact Eric Nowak at enowak@dgfirm.com or 813-229-2775.
1 § 766.118, Fla. Stat. Ann. (2011)
2 Estate of McCall v. United States, 134 So. 3d 894 (Fla. 2014)
3 Id. at 901.
4 North Broward Hospital v. Kalitan, No. 4D11-4806 (Fla. 4th DCA July 1, 2015).
5 Id. at 2-3.
6 Id. at 3
7 Id.
8 Id.
9 Id. at 5
10 Id. at 4-5.
11 Id. at 5.
12 Id. at 9.
13 Id. at 10. The court in Kalitan also questioned whether any such crisis ever existed.
14 Id.
15 Id. at 10.
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