Minnesota’s Largest Medical Pain, Suffering Award Set Aside

A $110 million noneconomic damages award in a medical malpractice case was “shockingly excessive” and must be reduced, a federal court in Minnesota said.

The evidence introduced at a trial against health-care providers accused of negligence in connection with a college student’s leg surgery didn’t justify such an “astronomical” and “unprecedented” award, the US District Court for the District of Minnesota said Thursday. The award was more than five times greater than the largest one ever approved by the district court’s governing circuit and was “the largest damages award in Minnesota history,” it said.

The court gave Anuj Thapa the ...