Guiliani v. Shehata, 2014 Ohio 4240

In a medical-malpractice case, Guiliani sued Dr. Shehata for delayed diagnosis of colon cancer after a seed-implant prostate treatment.
The jury found Shehata negligent, allocated 70% fault to Shehata and 30% to Guiliani, and awarded $1,000,000 noneconomic damages.
The trial court reduced the award to $700,000 for comparative-negligence and then capped noneconomic damages at $250,000 under R.C. 2323.43.
Guiliani argued for a $500,000 cap and challenged exclusion of medical-bill evidence; Shehata cross-appealed on several points.
The court addressed the interplay between R.C. 2315.35 (comparative fault) and R.C. 2323.43 (damage caps), the two-tier cap, and admissibility of expert testimony from a non-radiation-oncology specialist.
The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s judgments and upheld the damages-cap application, the order excluding medical-bills evidence, and the admissibility of Dr. Donehower’s testimony.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Higher cap applicability under 2323.43	Guiliani: higher cap of $500,000 should apply for catastrophic injury.	Shehata: cap applies only after jury findings; higher cap requires a jury finding.	Higher cap requires jury factual finding; not applied here.
Order of applying caps vs. comparative fault	Cap should be applied after damages are reduced for comparative negligence.	Cap should limit noneconomic damages before or without considering fault.	R.C. 2315.35 applied before R.C. 2323.43 cap; reductions for fault occurred prior to the cap.
Exclusion of Guiliani's medical-bills evidence	Bills should be admissible to show damages causally linked to negligence.	Causation between bills and negligence requires expert testimony; bills alone are insufficient.	Trial court did not abuse discretion; bills excluded without expert causation linkage.
Admission of expert testimony from Dr. Donehower	Donehower qualified to opine on standard of care related to radiation oncology.	Donehower may lack specialty in radiation oncology; qualifications too broad.	Court did not abuse discretion; Donehower qualified to render opinion in context.

Arbino v. Johnson & Johnson, 880 N.E.2d 240 (Ohio 2007) (noneconomic cap constitutional so long as fact-finding remains with jury)
Faieta v. World Harvest Church, 2008-Ohio-6959 (10th Dist. Franklin No. 08AP-527, 2008-Ohio-6959) (caps applied after uncapped damages; jury verdict not informed of caps)