Court Holds Baby, Mother Entitled To Separate Noneconomic Damages Cap In California Birth Injury Case: At the time a federal medical malpractice birth injury case arose, section 3333.2(a) of the California Civil Code provided that “[i]n any action for injury against a health care provider based on professional negligence, the injured plaintiff shall be entitled to recover noneconomic losses.” Section 3333.2(b) limited the total amount of recoverable noneconomic damages, stating that “[i]n no action shall the amount of damages for noneconomic losses exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000).”
The United States argued in the federal birth injury case that § 3333.2(b) limits the total recovery to $250,000, because the mother and child joined their claims together in one action and their claims arose out of the same incident of negligence.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (“Federal Appellate Court”) stated in its unpublished opinion dated June 2, 2023: “Because the California Supreme Court “has not squarely addressed” the issue of whether § 3333.2 applies to one lawsuit where multiple plaintiffs have joined their separate causes of action, “we must ‘predict how the highest state court would decide the issue using intermediate appellate court decisions, decisions from other jurisdictions, statutes, treatises, and restatements as guidance.”
In this case of first impression, the Federal Appellate Court held: “A plain reading of § 3333.2, combined with California case law, leads us to agree with the district court that California plaintiffs who have joined their separate medical malpractice causes of action may each recover the full noneconomic damages cap to which they would be entitled had they filed separate lawsuits. Here, I. Perez suffered permanent injuries from perinatal asphyxiation, and therefore has a claim against the United States for medical malpractice. Norma Perez has a separate and independent cause of action for serious emotional distress and suffering both during childbirth and into the future. We note that the California Supreme Court has held that “a mother can recover damages for the emotional distress suffered as a result of a negligent delivery causing injury to her child” that is not “purely derivative” of her child’s injury during childbirth. Burgess v. Superior Court, 831 P.2d 1197, 1199, 1202 (Cal. 1992). Because Norma Perez and I. Perez each have independent causes of action against the United States, under the plain text of § 3333.2(a), they are each entitled to receive noneconomic damages up to $250,000.”
Source Perez v. United States of America, No. 21-55318.
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