Naccache v. Taylor

199 A.3d 181
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 21, 2018
DocketNo. 16-CV-55
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 199 A.3d 181 (Naccache v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Naccache v. Taylor, 199 A.3d 181 (D.C. 2018).

Opinion

Beckwith, Associate Judge:

A Superior Court jury awarded appellee Angela Taylor $6.5 million in damages following a trial at which she alleged that appellant Maurice Naccache, an obstetrician employed by the District of Columbia, had provided negligent prenatal care that led to her son's premature birth and his severe and permanent developmental injuries. The District of Columbia, which participated in the trial on Dr. Naccache's behalf and continues to participate here, challenges two of the trial court's orders pertaining to the jury award. At issue in this appeal is the meaning of the statute providing for interest on judgments against the District of Columbia "at the rate of not exceeding 4% per annum," D.C. Code § 28-3302 (b) (2018 Repl.), and the validity of a lien the District imposed upon Ms. Taylor's jury award in order to secure reimbursement for all Medicaid expenses incurred by Ms. Taylor's son following the entry of judgment.

The jury's award included damages "with interest, thereon at the statutory rate and their costs of action." Of the $6.5 million awarded, the jury allocated $3.3 million to future care costs, but did not allocate any portion of the judgment for past Medicaid expenses.1 Two weeks after the October 2010 verdict, the District filed a Health Care Reimbursement Lien-or Medicaid lien-on Ms. Taylor's judgment *183in the amount of $764,277.46 for Medicaid payments the District made for Ms. Taylor's son's medical care prior to the entry of judgment. The District also filed a motion for a remittitur of $1.8 million in the award of "future care costs." After the trial court denied the District's request to reduce the amount of the jury award, the District twice amended the lien, first to $779,928.81 in August 2013 and then again to $851,233.07 in January 2015-figures that for the first time included Medicaid expenses incurred after the verdict.2

In March 2015, more than four years after the verdict and almost two years after this court affirmed the judgment on appeal,3 the court entered a consent order establishing that the jury award would be "placed in a Special Needs Trust for the sole benefit" of Ms. Taylor's son,4 but that the amount the District asserted as a Medicaid lien for pre- and post-judgment expenses-at that time, some $850,000-would be placed into the court registry pending a final order on the validity of the lien. At oral argument, counsel for Ms. Taylor represented that prior to this time, she had not received any portion of the judgment because the judgment was automatically stayed when the District filed its first appeal, and that as a result, in the interim, she had qualified for and collected Medicaid payments.

In the months following the issuance of the consent order, the trial court issued two additional orders granting motions filed by Ms. Taylor: the first, in July 2015, approved costs and interest on the judgment at 4% per year pursuant to D.C. Code § 28-3302 (b),5 and the second, in December 2015, granted declaratory and injunctive relief striking as invalid the Medicaid lien the District had imposed on the judgment. Dr. Naccache and the District now appeal from these orders. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the trial court's decision to strike the Medicaid lien for all future care costs after the creation of the supplemental needs trust, but reverse the order striking the District's lien for medical care costs covered between the entry of the judgment in 2010 and the establishment of the trust in 2015. We also reverse the order awarding interest at 4% per year and remand for clarification as to whether the trial court exercised its discretion in making that award.

I. The Post-Judgment Interest Order

D.C. Code § 28-3302 (b) provides that "[i]nterest, when authorized by law, on judgments or decrees against the District of Columbia, or its officers, or its employees acting within the scope of their employment, is at the rate of not exceeding 4% per annum." At issue here is whether "not exceeding 4% per annum" means that a trial court may award up to 4% interest *184or that it must award exactly 4%. The District argues that the trial court erred by awarding Ms. Taylor interest at a fixed rate of 4%, and that the court instead should have awarded interest at the lower rate applicable in suits against private parties. Ms. Taylor argues that § 28-3302 (b) required the court to award interest at 4% or, alternatively, that it permitted the court to award interest at 4%, and so the trial court did not abuse its discretion by doing so.

We review questions of statutory interpretation de novo. E.g. , District of Columbia v. Place , 892 A.2d 1108, 1110-11 (D.C. 2006) ; District of Columbia v. Cato Inst. , 829 A.2d 237, 239 (D.C. 2003). To interpret the language of a statute, we start with "the plain meaning if the words are clear and unambiguous." Place , 892 A.2d at 1111. "[T]he words of the statute should be construed according to their ordinary sense and with the meaning commonly attributed to them." Id. (quoting Peoples Drug Stores, Inc. v. District of Columbia , 470 A.2d 751, 753 (D.C. 1983) (en banc) ). Likewise, rather than reading statutory words in isolation, we "consider not only the bare meaning of the word but also its placement and purpose in the statutory scheme." Tippett v. Daly , 10 A.3d 1123, 1127 (D.C. 2010) (en banc) (quoting Bailey v. United States , 516 U.S. 137

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Bluebook (online)
199 A.3d 181, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/naccache-v-taylor-dc-2018.