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When MICRA applies to all the defendants, noneconomic damages should be reduced to the MICRA cap before being reduced further by fault allocations.

December 5, 2025

Snover v. Gupta (Nov. 18, 2025, No. A172568) __ Cal.App.5th __ [2025 WL 3215132]

Plaintiff sued defendants, all health care providers covered by MICRA, after medical complications during a surgical procedure. After a jury verdict for plaintiff, the trial court first reduced the noneconomic damages award to $250,000 (the then-existing MICRA cap), and then reduced the verdict to account for pretrial settlements and allocation of fault.

The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s sequencing and result. The court held, consistent with Gilman v. Beverly California Corp. (1991) 231 Cal.App.3d 121 and Rashidi v. Moser (2014) 60 Cal.4th 718, that the trial court correctly applied the MICRA cap before apportioning liability for noneconomic damages and calculating settlement offsets because all defendants were healthcare providers covered by MICRA.

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