Update- here’s the Special Verdict form on the verdict two days ago in Wilcox v. Exodus Healthcare. Note that the jury awarded $2,000,000 in non-economic damages for this wrongful death claim.
As I’ve said before, Utah juries seem to be shedding their reluctance to award significant non-economic damages.
Unusually, this Utah wrongful death verdict does not provide a separate line for the estate’s claims (medical expenses) and then for each of the heirs (as is typical in a wrongful death case). After all, each heir may have a different relationship with the decedent, and each heir’s loss may well be different. And medical expenses to the time of death are typically seen as the claim of the decedent– i.e. the estate– and subject to claims of the creditors of the estate. (Unlike the awards for the heirs.)
