Padilla

Attorney Neil M. Howard appeals from the trial court’s denial of his motion to recompute the jury’s present value calculation of his client’s medical malpractice award almost two years after the court entered its final judgment. We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Medical malpractice by Maria Padilla’s doctor left her in a permanently vegetative state. Attorney Neil Howard filed a malpractice lawsuit on Padilla’s behalf. Howard tried the case to a jury and in January 2001 the jury rendered a special verdict for Padilla compensating her for past and future damages. For her future medical expenses, the jury awarded Padilla 12 annual payments, which started at $250,000 the first year and increased by 6 percent every year thereafter. The jury calculated the present value of the future medical expenses as $2,095,000. In reaching that value, the jury appears to have mistakenly used a chart that calculated the present value for a stream of constant payments, not, as here, a series of rising payments.

In February 2001, the court entered judgment for Padilla. It awarded her more than $1.2 million for past damages. The court also awarded Padilla her future medical…