The case concerning the failed facelift of a real estate agent may potentially change a Georgia state law that limits the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
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Currently, the most a person can be awarded in the state is $350,000. Yet despite the law, Betty Nestlehutt was awarded more than $1.2 million after a reportedly botched 2006 facelift. Nestlehutt was a real estate agent at the time and said in court that the plastic surgery procedure was meant to help her compete with younger agents.On Tuesday, Nestlehutt's lawyers debated with the Georgia Supreme Court about the overturning the state law, the Atlanta Business Journal reports.
"For 200 years it's been the exclusive province of the jury to set damages," attorney Michael Terry told justices, the Ledger Inquirer reported. "The reason there's no case law on this is the legislature has long recognized they cannot take damage issues away from the jury."
In the past, other trial lawyers have argued about the legitimacy of the law, stating that limiting damage awards "places an arbitrary price on a victim's life," stated the Ledger.
