The Gressers, individually and on behalf of their minor daughter, C.G., asserted a medical negligence claim against Banner Health premised on the alleged failure of its nursing staff to timely recognize and report to C.G.’s treating physicians that C.G. was exhibiting signs of sepsis. The Colorado medical malpractice jury found in favor of the Gressers, and the court entered judgment in their favor in the amount of $39,845,196.83. After the jury rendered its verdict, the trial court determined it was appropriate to lift the $1 million cap. The trial court concluded that its application of the cap was “binary”: it was required either to impose the $1 million cap or enter a judgment in the amount that the jury had calculated for past and future economic damages. It chose the latter option and entered the full amount the jury had awarded.
Colorado Health Care Availability Act
The Health Care Availability Act (HCAA) caps at $1 million the tort damages awardable against all defendants for a course of care provided to a patient by a health care professional or a health care institution. §13-64-302(1)(b), C.R.S. 2023. The HCAA provides limited circumstances in which a trial court may lift the cap to award “the present value of additional past and future economic damages only.”
However, once a court makes the appropriate findings and lifts the cap, the HCAA does not specify how the court must determine the amount of such excess damages. No prior Colorado case had addressed this issue. The General Assembly’s silence could mean that, upon lifting the cap, the court possesses the discretion to reject the jury’s award and independently determine the amount of such additional damages. Alternatively, it could mean that, if the court decides to exceed the cap, it must enter a judgment for economic damages in the same amount as the jury’s calculation of such damages.
In its opinion announced on November 16, 2023, the Court of Appeals of Colorado (“Colorado Appellate Court”) stated: “We disagree with the court’s reading of the HCAA. We hold that, after making the necessary findings to exceed the statutory cap, a trial court may, but is not required to, award additional damages in the amount that the jury determined. But the court’s discretion is not limitless. To determine the scope of that discretion, we look to the case law governing judicial review of jury damages awards. Under that case law, a court possesses the authority to set aside a jury’s award of damages if the award was “grossly and manifestly excessive.” Bohlender v. Oster, 165 Colo. 164, 168, 439 P.2d 999, 1001 (1968). Although the trial court erred by characterizing its available options as “binary,” it undertook the correct analysis before adopting the jury’s calculation of additional past and future economic damages. Because we also reject Banner Health’s other claims of error, we affirm.”
Gresser v. Banner Health, 2023COA108.
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