After Allen Turner died from surgical complications, his daughter, Norkesia Turner (“Turner”), sued Drs. William Thompson and Heather Nolan, as well as their employer, the Medical Center of Central Georgia, Inc.(collectively, “MCCG”), for medical malpractice and wrongful death. The action proceeded to trial, and the jury returned verdicts in Turner’s favor. The jury awarded approximately $7.2 million in noneconomic damages specifically “for wrongful death” – a figure meant to quantify, as best the law can, “the full value of the life of the decedent, as shown by the evidence.” OCGA §§ 51-4-1 and 51-4-2 (a).
After the verdicts, but before entry of final judgment, MCCG moved the trial court to reduce the $7.2 million noneconomic damages award to the maximum amount allowable under OCGA § 51-13-1 (b) and (c). Pointing to the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision in Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery, P.C. v. Nestlehutt, 286 Ga. 731 (691 SE2d 218) (2010), the trial court denied MCCG’s motion and concluded that the statutory maximum limits on noneconomic damages (or “caps”) contained in OCGA § 51-13-1 (b) and (c) were “not applicable” to the wrongful death noneconomic damages awarded to Turner on the basis that this Court had already “found [the caps] to be unconstitutional” in Nestlehutt. MCCG appealed.
The Supreme Court of Georgia stated in its June 24, 2025 decision: “In Nestlehutt, the only issue before us was whether OCGA § 51-13-1’s caps could be constitutionally applied to reduce a jury’s award of noneconomic damages for pain and suffering and loss of consortium following a verdict in the plaintiffs’ favor for medical malpractice claims. See 286 Ga. at 732-738 (2). In resolving that issue, we considered whether the type of underlying claim of liability at issue (i.e., a medical malpractice claim) existed in Georgia in 1798, whether the right to trial by jury attached for that type of claim in Georgia in 1798, and whether the damages awarded by the jury (i.e., noneconomic damages for pain and suffering and loss of consortium) were damages determined by juries for that type of claim in Georgia in 1798. See Nestlehutt, 286 Ga. at 732-738 (2); Taylor, 316 Ga. at 59-81 (III). Ultimately, we concluded that the answer was “yes” as to each of those considerations, such that application of OCGA § 51-13-1’s caps to the noneconomic damages for pain and suffering and loss of consortium that were awarded to the plaintiffs for their successful medical malpractice claims violated the constitutional right to trial by jury … because the question of whether OCGA § 51-13-1’s caps can be constitutionally applied to statutory wrongful death claims (and their associated “full value of the life” damages) was not at issue in Nestlehutt, the Nestlehutt Court could not (and did not) decide the issue presented in this case.”
The Supreme Court of Georgia held in the case it was deciding: “Because the lower courts relied upon a contrary view of Nestlehutt’s breadth in reaching their shared conclusions and, as a result, did not apply the analytical framework set out by our precedent, the constitutional questions in this case have not been addressed by the lower courts consistent with our precedent. We decline to apply that framework in the first instance … Accordingly, we vacate the decision of the Court of Appeals and remand with direction for the Court of Appeals to return this case to the trial court for additional proceedings in light of this opinion.”
Source The Medical Center of Central Georgia, Inc. v. Turner, S25G0132.
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