Judge Herbert Phipps of the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed a Gwinnett County State Court’s judgment in an $8.5 million wrongful death medical-malpractice suit on Wednesday.

Defendant-appellant counsel led by Daniel Huff and Randolph Powell of Huff Powell Bailey asked Phipps, who was joined on the panel by Judges Sara Doyle and Elizabeth Gobeil, whether a trial court can hold a defendant responsible for funeral expenses but not wrongful death in a medical-malpractice case.