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Judd v. Drezga11/5/2004
itation on Athan's recovery of quality of life damages from Dr. Drezga is constitutionally infirm. In other words, she asks us to review the protections afforded all citizens, including Athan, by our state constitution, and conclude that these protections are sufficient to protect Athan from the seemingly arbitrary 80% reduction in the compensation available to improve a life diminished in opportunity, satisfaction, and accomplishment by the uncontested incompetence of Dr. Drezga.
Specifically, Judd asks us to strike down the cap on quality of life damages on any one or more of five Utah constitutional grounds. She claims that, first, the cap violates the protections of the open courts provision of article I, section 11; second, the cap violates Athan's right to the uniform operation of laws under article I, section 24; third, the cap violates the guarantee of due process under article I, section 7; fourth, the cap violates Athan's right to a jury trial in civil cases as guaranteed by article I, section 10; and finally, the cap violates the separation of powers protections of article V, section 1.
On appeal, Dr. Drezga does not contest the trial judge's conclusion that his negligence was so clearly evident that the question of his malpractice on Athan need not even be considered by the jury. He also does not contest the award to Athan of $1,022,735.30 for economic damages. Nor does he contest the amount of the damages found by the jury to compensate for Athan's diminished life experience--the quality of life damages of $1,250,000. Instead, Dr. Drezga argues that the trial court correctly reduced Athan's quality of life damages based on the statutory cap on such damages imposed by the legislature, and on our historic deference to the decisions of the legislature on questions of public policy. Dr. Drezga is joined in his defense by the Attorney General of Utah, the Utah Medical Association, the Utah Hospitals and Health Systems Association, and Intermountain Health Care.
ANALYSIS
I. STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review the trial court's reduction of Athan's judgment for correctness given the constitutional questions Judd raises. Grand County v. Emery County, 2002 UT 57, 6, 52 P.3d 1148.
II. OPEN COURTS CLAUSE
This court has held, since our decision in Berry ex rel. Berry v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 717 P.2d 670 (Utah 1985), that citizens of Utah have a right to a remedy for an injury . Article I, section 11 of the Utah Constitution provides: "All courts shall be open, and every person, for an injury done to him in his person, property or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, which shall be administered without denial or unnecessary delay." Utah Const. art. I, ยง 11. As part of our Berry jurisprudence, we have fashioned a test by which we can discern whether the legislature had sufficient reason to diminish or eliminate a previously existing right to recover for an injury. Despite articulate and passionate arguments to the contrary, we find no open courts violation in the cap on quality of life damages imposed by Utah Code section 78-14-7.1 as applied to Athan's damages. Athan's cause has been allowed before and ruled upon by the courts, and his remedy has been diminished, but not eliminated. The protections of the open courts provision have not been offended.
Our past jurisprudence has clearly and firmly established the following test for violations of the Open Courts Clause:
section 11 is satisfied if the law provides an injured person an effective and reasonable alternative remedy "by due course of law" for vindication of his constitutional interest. The benefit provided by the substi
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