The Anyssa Zancanella lawsuit ended in August 2025 with a $951 million judgment against Steward Health Care, the largest medical malpractice award in Utah history. Third District Court Judge Patrick Corum found Steward liable for a catastrophically mishandled delivery at Jordan Valley Medical Center’s West Valley Campus in October 2019 that left Zancanella’s daughter, Azaylee McMicheal, with permanent brain damage.
What Happened at Jordan Valley Medical Center
Zancanella was admitted on October 14, 2019, to deliver her daughter. The nurses assigned to her labor were newly out of orientation. One had finished orientation the same day Zancanella was admitted. Another had finished only days earlier. They were left to manage the labor largely on their own.
The nurses ran high doses of Pitocin for hours. Fetal heart monitor strips showed the baby in distress and struggling for oxygen, but the medication continued and the warning signs went unanswered. The on-call physician was asleep in a nearby room. When the nurses reported the baby’s rising blood pressure and Zancanella’s fever, the doctor went back to sleep, according to the lawsuit.
The charge nurse on the floor refused to help with the delivery because of a personal conflict with Zancanella’s mother, according to the complaint, leaving inexperienced staff alone during a worsening emergency. Zancanella labored for roughly 36 hours before a cesarean section was performed. By then the harm was done.
Azaylee’s Injuries
Azaylee was born with a misshapen head, severe swelling, and clear signs of oxygen deprivation. She was airlifted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City and diagnosed with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, a form of brain damage caused by loss of oxygen and blood flow during birth.
Now six years old, she is nonverbal, suffers from seizures, and has developmental disabilities, facial scarring, and mental health challenges. She requires round-the-clock care and will need lifelong medical treatment, therapy, assistive technology, and special education. Her attorney, David Creasy of Claggett & Sykes, said Azaylee looks like other children her age but lacks typical cognitive and executive function.
How the Case Reached a Default Judgment
The family filed suit in 2021, represented by Claggett & Sykes Trial Lawyers of Las Vegas and co-counsel Barbara Gallagher of Kidwell & Gallagher. The complaint alleged that incompetent staffing, improper Pitocin administration, and the absence of physician oversight amounted to a systemic breakdown in patient care. A retained expert, nursing instructor Michelle L. Murray, characterized the excessive Pitocin dosing and failure to respond to fetal distress as a “never event.”
Steward denied the allegations in a May 2024 filing, arguing it had not hired the staffers involved. Then the company stopped communicating with its own lawyers and stopped paying them. By May 2024, Steward’s legal team withdrew with the court’s permission. Steward never appointed replacement counsel, and Judge Corum proceeded without the company and ultimately entered a default judgment.
How the $951 Million Breaks Down
Judge Corum issued his ruling in early August 2025, awarding the family $951,849,363:
- $200 million in pain and suffering (noneconomic damages) to Azaylee
- $475 million in punitive damages against Steward
- More than $65 million in medical and economic costs for Azaylee’s lifetime care
- $110 million to Zancanella
- $100 million to Azaylee’s father
Judge Corum described Jordan Valley Medical Center under Steward’s ownership as “literally the most dangerous place on the planet” for Zancanella to have given birth. He said the award could have been higher had Steward not abandoned the case.
Typical birth injury settlements run from about $1 million to $15 million. The Zancanella award is roughly 63 times the high end of that range and among the largest birth injury verdicts recorded nationally.
The Utah Damages Cap
Utah law caps noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases. Under Utah Code Section 78B-3-410, noneconomic damages for causes of action arising after May 15, 2010, are capped at $450,000. If enforced on appeal or in post-judgment proceedings, that cap could sharply reduce the $200 million noneconomic component of Azaylee’s award. Because Steward withdrew from the case, no party raised the cap at trial. Steward had 90 days from August 8, 2025, to appeal. As of mid-2026, no public statement about an appeal had been made.
Whether the Family Will Actually Collect
Collection is the harder question. Steward Health Care filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2024 in the Southern District of Texas (Case No. 24-90213), listing roughly $9 billion in debts to more than 100,000 creditors. The bankruptcy has paused or complicated many malpractice suits against the company.
In July 2025, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez approved a liquidation plan under which Steward would repay creditors using proceeds from lawsuits against former owners and insiders. Steward is pursuing more than $3 billion in claims against former CEO Ralph de la Torre and former private equity owner Cerberus Capital Management, alleging they looted the company. An SHC Creditor Litigation Trust was established, and in November 2025 the trustee filed a $3.4 billion suit against de la Torre and other insiders on behalf of Steward’s creditors, a group that includes former patients.
Jennifer Morales of Claggett & Sykes has said the family should be able to collect at least the punitive damages portion of the award, which at $475 million is roughly half the total. Actual recovery will depend on the bankruptcy process and on whatever assets can be clawed back from Steward’s former leadership.
Jordan Valley Medical Center itself is no longer a Steward facility. Steward sold it to CommonSpirit Health in May 2023, and it was rebranded as Holy Cross Hospital–Jordan Valley. CommonSpirit declined to comment on the Zancanella lawsuit specifically but said its current staff are trained on best practices and the organization is committed to providing safe care.