Georgia parents' $37m verdict cut to $2m, appeals court raises it to $3m
A couple in Georgia, US, has secured a higher compensation judgment after an appeals court revisited a case involving the death of their three-year-old son during hospital treatment. In a ruling dated October 28, 2026, the Georgia Court of Appeals directed the trial court to enter a $3 million damages judgment against the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, reversing a previous reduction of the family's $37 million jury verdict to $2 million.
The ruling, published by Justia in Warren et al. v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, addresses how state law limits compensation in cases involving public institutions. It does not restore the original jury award or reinstate every claim brought by the parents.The case centres on the treatment of the couple's son, identified in the judgment as B.W., at Augusta University Medical Center in 2016.
His parents, Bryce Warren and April Bradshaw, took him to the hospital on June 23 that year after noticing an abdominal mass and consulting physicians in their hometown of Moultrie, Georgia. They initially believed he might have a blockage. Instead, doctors diagnosed him with stage-four Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. According to the court's account, the parents were told that the cancer was “99 percent curable” and that the child needed surgery to insert a port for chemotherapy.The child was moved to the paediatric intensive care unit following surgery.
During the first week of chemotherapy, his tumour reportedly decreased in size by 40%, offering some initial encouragement to his family. However, his condition subsequently deteriorated, leading to the medical care that became central to the lawsuit.Skin complications and a delayed consultationAccording to the appellate judgment, doctors began administering allopurinol on July 4, 2016, to manage tumour lysis syndrome, a complication that can occur when cancer cells break down and release substances that affect the body's organs.
The following day, the child began experiencing skin sloughing, in which the skin peels away. A wound nurse recommended a dermatology consultation on July 5, but the court record says the physicians did not arrange one until July 12. During that interval, the child received seven additional doses of allopurinol.The dermatologist ultimately diagnosed Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis, severe conditions that can cause extensive skin damage and are commonly associated with medication reactions or infections.
The allopurinol was discontinued on July 12. The judgment also records that the child developed other serious complications, including sepsis, a urinary infection, skin lesions and fluid accumulation around the lungs.Later on July 12, he struggled to maintain an open airway, and his oxygen levels fell. A medical resident intubated him, but an accidental extubation occurred. A second accidental extubation followed several hours later.
The next morning, the child lost his pulse, suffered repeated cardiac arrests and died.His death certificate listed Burkitt lymphoma, hyperkalemia, or elevated potassium levels, and sepsis as causes of death. It did not list Stevens-Johnson syndrome or toxic epidermal necrolysis. His parents sued the Board of Regents, alleging wrongful death and seeking compensation for the child's suffering and their own emotional distress.Jury awards $37 millionThe case went to trial in April 2024, with the Board of Regents the only remaining defendant.
After an eight-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in favour of the parents on May 1, awarding $37 million in damages. The award comprised $10 million for the child's pain and suffering, $22 million for his wrongful death and $5 million for his parents' emotional distress.Following the verdict, the Board of Regents sought to reduce the award under the Georgia Tort Claims Act, which limits the amount that can be recovered from state entities.
The trial court agreed, reducing the total damages judgment to $2 million: $1 million for the child's estate and $1 million for the wrongful-death claim jointly held by his parents.The trial court also granted the board's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the parents' emotional-distress claims, effectively setting aside that portion of the jury's award. The parents challenged these decisions before the Court of Appeals.Why the judgment increased to $3 millionThe appeals court focused on how Georgia's damages cap applies to the parents' wrongful-death claim.
Under the Georgia Tort Claims Act, an individual generally cannot recover more than $1 million for losses arising from a single occurrence involving a state entity, while the state's aggregate liability per occurrence cannot exceed $3 million.The trial court had treated the parents as a single person for the purposes of the wrongful-death claim, limiting their joint recovery to $1 million.
The appeals court disagreed, finding that the mother and father are separate legal persons under the statute and that each can recover up to $1 million, subject to the overall cap.Because the child's estate was already entitled to $1 million, the court directed the trial court to enter a total damages judgment of $3 million: $1 million for the estate and $1 million for each parent on the wrongful-death claim.The court did not accept the parents' argument that multiple alleged failures in care should count as separate occurrences, which could have supported a substantially higher recovery.
It also upheld the dismissal of their emotional-distress claims and left the trial court's refusal to backdate the judgment unchanged.The appeals court vacated the denial of the parents' request for attorney's fees and expenses and sent that issue back to the trial court for reconsideration.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
