The Medical Center of Central Georgia, Inc. v. Turner, [Ms. S25G0132, June 24, 2025] __ Ga. __ (2025). The Court (LaGrua, J.; Warren, P.J., and Bethel, Ellington, McMillian, Colvin, and Pinson, JJ., concur; Peterson, C.J., disqualified) vacated the Court of Appeals’ decision and remanded for further proceedings. The Court held that Atlanta Oculoplastic Surgery, P.C. v. Nestlehutt does not control the constitutionality of applying OCGA § 51-13-1’s caps on noneconomic damages to wrongful death claims. 286 Ga. 731 (2010). The lower courts erred in treating Nestlehutt as binding precedent for such claims without applying the full claim-specific jury trial analysis required by Nestlehutt and Taylor v. Devereux Found., Inc., 316 Ga. 44 (2023). Ms. **4–8.
Because Nestlehutt only addressed noneconomic damages for pain and suffering and loss of consortium in medical malpractice claims—not statutory wrongful death claims under OCGA § 51-4-1 et seq.—its reasoning did not extend to the “full value of the life” damages awarded here. Ms. **6–7. The Court emphasized that constitutional challenges under the jury trial clause must be resolved by examining whether the claim and its remedy existed in 1798 and were traditionally determined by a jury. Since that analysis was not conducted below, the case was remanded for proper application of the framework. Ms. **8–9.
Justice Colvin concurred separately, reiterating her view that Nestlehutt warrants reexamination because it appears to establish a substantive limit on legislative authority rather than merely preserving a procedural jury trial right. Colvin, J., concurring, Ms. **10.