MEDICAL MALPRACTICE - GILLIS V. FRAZIER

Gillis v. Frazier [Ms. 1120292, August 1, 2014] __ So. 3d. __ (Ala. 2014). The Court overrules Boudreaux v. Pettaway, 108 So. 3d 486 (Ala. 2012), "to the extent that it held that a potential bad-faith claim and/or negligent-failure-to-settle claim against a liability-insurance carrier may be considered as an asset for purposes of a Hammond/Green Oil review and a remittitur analysis." The Court does this because "allowing a trial court to consider a defendant's potential third-party claim against its liability-insurance carrier as an asset ... is subjective rather than objective. In a remittitur analysis, the actual assets and liabilities of the defendant are determinative of the defendant's net worth." The Court does, however, decline to revive the million dollar cap of ¤ 6-5-547 by overruling the cases holding it unconstitutional. The Court remands for a new remittitur hearing on the $5 million wrongful-death verdict against Dr. Frazier without consideration of his potential claim against his insurer, ProAssurance.