Greer v. Advantage Health

852 N.W.2d 198, 305 Mich. App. 192
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 13, 2014
DocketDocket No. 312655
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 852 N.W.2d 198 (Greer v. Advantage Health) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greer v. Advantage Health, 852 N.W.2d 198, 305 Mich. App. 192 (Mich. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinions

MARKEY,

J. In this medical malpractice case, nonsettling defendants, Advantage Health and Anita R. Avery, M.D. (defendants), appeal by right the trial court’s ruling applying only a portion of the amount a potentially jointly liable codefendant paid to settle plaintiffs’ claims as a setoff against a jury award. Defendants also [196]*196appeal the trial court’s failure to reduce the amount of the jury’s award for past economic damages by the amount medical bills were reduced pursuant to the providers’ agreement with insurance companies (i.e., the insurance discount). We affirm the trial court’s collateral source ruling, but we reverse and remand for entry of an amended judgment consistent with this opinion regarding the application of common-law setoff.

I. SUMMARY OF PERTINENT FACTS

This case arises out of the birth of Makenzie Greer. Plaintiffs asserted joint and several claims of negligence against all defendants attending Elizabeth Greer during the delivery of Makenzie, which resulted in injury to both Elizabeth (ruptured uterus) and Makenzie (hypoxic brain injury, respiratory depression, metabolic acidosis, permanent brain damage, and blindness). Before trial, defendant St. Mary’s Hospital settled all plaintiffs’ claims, including those of Elizabeth’s husband, Kenneth Greer, for $600,000.1 The settlement did not differentiate between plaintiffs’ claims for damages that included the personal injuries of Elizabeth and Makenzie and Kenneth’s claims for Makenzie’s medicad expenses and loss of consortium.

At trial, plaintiffs introduced evidence of medical services invoices for $425,533.75. Defense counsel acknowledged the accuracy of the medical bills but contended plaintiffs could recover only the amounts the insurance companies actually paid and for which they asserted a lien for reimbursement. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Makenzie for past medical care (economic damages) of $425,533.75, future medical and [197]*197attendant care (economic damages), and future pain, suffering and disability (noneconomic damages); however, it awarded her no damages for past pain and suffering. The jury found no cause of action with respect to the claims asserted by Elizabeth and Kenneth.

Before entry of judgment, defendants moved the trial court to reduce the award of future damages to present value pursuant to MCL 600.6306,2 to setoff the entire amount ($600,000) that St. Mary’s Hospital paid to settle plaintiffs’ claims, and to reduce the award for past medical expenses to the amounts that insurance actually paid, as opposed to billed, for which there existed a lien for reimbursement. The trial court issued an opinion and order, granting in part and denying in part defendants’ motion. The trial court opined, relying on Zdrojewski v Murphy, 254 Mich App 50; 657 NW2d 721 (2002), that no reduction of the jury’s award for past medical expenses was warranted because the insurance companies that made payments to the medical providers (Aetna and Priority Health) asserted contractual subrogation liens with respect to the proceeds of any judgment plaintiffs might collect.

With respect to the amount St. Mary’s Hospital paid to settle plaintiffs’ claims, the trial court recognized the common-law rule that “where a negligence action is brought against joint tortfeasors, and one alleged tortfeasor agrees to settle his potential liability by paying a lump sum in exchange for a release, and a judgment is subsequently entered against the non-settling tortfeasor, the judgment is reduced pro tanto by the settlement amount.” Thick v Lapeer Metal Prod, 419 Mich 342, 348 n 1; 353 NW2d 464 (1984) (opinion by BOYLE, J.). But [198]*198the trial court declined to fully apply common-law setoff. The court reasoned that it would be manifestly unjust to apply the full settlement to offset the jury award for Makenzie because the St. Mary’s settlement payment was for the claims of all three plaintiffs and because the jury returned a verdict of no cause of action as to Kenneth’s and Elizabeth’s separate claims, which were included in the St. Mary’s settlement payment. The court, therefore, ruled it would allow a setoff of “$162,058.11 or V3 of the settlement amount. . . which represents that portion of the settlement paid in exchange for release of liability for Makenzie’s injuries.”

Defendants filed a motion for reconsideration, which the trial court denied in an opinion and order. The trial court reaffirmed its ruling regarding past medical expenses, opining that defendants failed to prove this claim. The trial court also reaffirmed its ruling regarding setoff and distinguished the case of Velez v Tuma, 492 Mich 1; 821 NW2d 432 (2012), on which defendants relied. The trial court noted that Velez involved a single plaintiff whereas the present case concerned a settlement with three plaintiffs. Again, the trial court reasoned that the settlement was for all three plaintiffs, but the jury awarded damages to only one plaintiff. The trial court also speculated that the jury would not have returned a verdict of no cause of action as to Elizabeth and Kenneth if the case had proceeded to trial against St. Mary’s Hospital. The trial court further explained its ruling:

The Court finds, factually, that this settlement allocation was for the three plaintiffs equally and that the only reasonable, rational and record based way to allocate the amount to be set off against the verdict was equally in one-third increments allowing the Defendants first a $200,000 setoff; which necessarily had to be reduced by the one-third amount of medical expense hens paid out of the settlement amount.

[199]*199Thereafter, after making calculations regarding the jury verdict consistent with its rulings, the trial court entered judgment in favor of Kenneth as conservator for Makenzie against defendants in the amount of $1,058,825.56. The court entered a separate order awarding plaintiffs’ their costs of $32,393.80 as prevailing parties. Defendants now appeal by right the trial court’s rulings applying only a partial setoff for the St. Mary’s Hospital settlement payment and declining to reduce the jury’s award for past economic damages to the amount insurance companies actually paid providers to satisfy plaintiffs’ medical bills.

II. ANALYSIS

A. PRESERVATION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

Each issue on appeal has been preserved because it was raised before and decided by the trial court. Gen-Motors Corp v Dep’t of Treasury, 290 Mich App 355, 386; 803 NW2d 698 (2010). We review both issues de novo as they present questions of law regarding the interpretation of statutes and the application of the common law. Velez, 492 Mich at 10-11.

B. COMMON-LAW SETOFF

Under the common-law rule of setoff among jointly liable tort defendants “where a negligence action is brought against joint tortfeasors, and one alleged tortfeasor agrees to settle his potential liability by paying a lump sum in exchange for a release, and a judgment is subsequently entered against the non-settling tortfeasor, the judgment is reduced pro tanto by the settlement amount.” Thick, 419 Mich at 348 n 1 (opinion by BOYLE, J.). See also Velez, 492 Mich at 14 n 27, and Markley v Oak Health Care Investors of Coldwater, Inc, 255 Mich [200]*200App 245, 250

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
852 N.W.2d 198, 305 Mich. App. 192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greer-v-advantage-health-michctapp-2014.