Robert Detrick and his wife sued a skilled nursing facility, claiming its nurses negligently failed to notify his doctors of a change in his condition. Detrick alleged that this failure led to a delay in diagnosing a compression of his spinal cord, resulting in his paralysis. Detrick also sued other defendants but settled with them before trial. A jury found for Detrick, holding the nursing facility 55% responsible for his injuries and awarding damages.
Detrick settled with all defendants other than Regent Care for a total of $1,850,000. Regent Care elected a dollar-for-dollar settlement credit. TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 33.012(c). Following trial, the jury found that Regent Care and
each of the settling defendants were negligent and proximately caused Detrick’s injury, and it apportioned 55% responsibility for the injury to Regent Care. The jury awarded economic damages of $3 million for future medical expenses, $390,000 for past medical expenses, and $245,000 for loss of household services. It also awarded $10,250,000 in noneconomic damages.
In applying the dollar-for-dollar settlement credit, the trial court calculated the percentages of economic versus noneconomic damages awarded by the jury and allocated the credit using those percentages, subtracting 27% of the credit from the economic damages and 73% from the noneconomic damages. The court then further reduced the noneconomic damages to $250,000 as required by the Texas Medical Liability Act (TMLA), leaving a total judgment of
$3,399,371. See id. § 74.301(b). Regent Care requested that the entire award of damages for future medical care be paid in periodic payments, but the trial court ordered that $256,358 be paid over a 24-month period. § 74.503(a). Regent Care appealed.
The Supreme Court of Texas stated in its May 9, 2020 Opinion: “[T]he nursing facility challenges the trial court’s application of a settlement credit and damages cap, as well as its finding that a certain amount of Detrick’s medical
expenses should be paid periodically. We hold that the trial court properly applied the settlement credit to reduce the claimant’s recovery while separately applying the damages cap to reduce the defendant’s liability. We also hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in declining to order periodic payment of a larger amount of Detrick’s medical expenses.”
The Texas Supreme Court explained: “Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code instructs trial courts how to determine a claimant’s recovery as well as a defendant’s liability in cases involving findings of proportionate responsibility, including cases in which some parties have settled. A claimant’s recovery and a defendant’s liability are distinct concepts, and each must be calculated and applied separately.”
“One section of Chapter 33, which Regent Care elected to apply here, addresses how settlements of health care liability claims affect a claimant’s recovery: “[I]f the claimant in a health care liability claim . . . has settled with one or more persons, the court shall . . . reduce the amount of damages to be recovered by the claimant with respect to a cause of action by an amount equal to . . . the sum of the dollar amounts of all settlements.” CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 33.012(c)(1). Chapter 33 also generally limits a defendant’s liability for damages based on the jury’s finding of that defendant’s proportionate responsibility for the harm, but this limit does not apply here because the jury found Regent Care more than 50% responsible.”
“Because Regent Care’s liability for noneconomic damages is limited to $250,000 under section 74.301(b), and that figure does not exceed the amount Detrick may recover under section 33.012, “no further credit is required.”
Source Regent Care Center of San Antonio v. Detrick, No. 19-0117.
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