Tam v. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct. (Nev. Supreme Ct. – Oct. 1, 2015)
NRS 41A.035 (2004) limits the recovery of a plaintiff’s noneconomic damages in a health-care provider’s professional negligence action to $350,000. The issues are whether the statute violates a plaintiff’s right to trial by jury, whether the cap applies separately to each cause of action, and whether the statute applies to medical malpractice actions.
After the death of Charles Thomas Cornell, Jr, Sherry Cornell, individually and as administrator of Charles’s estate, filed a complaint alleging, among other causes of actions, professional negligence and medical malpractice. The complaint named numerous defendants, including Stephen Tam, M.D.
Charles had several chronic medical conditions. However, Cornell alleged that Charles died after receiving care from the defendants, who discharged him without medications or prescriptions for essential medications, including insulin, to treat his diabetes. Consequently, the complaint alleged that Charles died because he did not have access to insulin.
The district court dismissed several of the defendants and numerous claims from the action, and the remaining claims for trial fell within the definition of medical malpractice as set forth in NRS 41A.009. Relevant to this matter is that Dr Tam filed an omnibus motion in limine requesting in part that the plaintiffs’ noneconomic damages be limited to $350,000 as a whole pursuant to NRS 41A.035 (2004).
The district court denied this motion finding that NRS 41A.035 was unconstitutional, as it violated a plaintiff’s constitutional right to trial by jury. The district court also found that the cap in NRS 41A.035 did not apply to the case as a whole but that a separate cap applied to each plaintiff for each of the defendants. In addition, the district court found that the cap in NRS 41A.035 did not apply to medical malpractice claims. Dr. Tam petitioned the Supreme Court of Nevada for a writ of mandamus compelling the district court to vacate its order denying his motion in limine.
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