Gregory Frost (“Frost”) claimed he became addicted to opioids due to the negligence of PCRMC Medical Group, Inc., d/b/a Phelps Health Medical Group (“Medical Group”). A jury found that Frost incurred compensatory damages in the amount of $200,000, that comparative fault for said damages was ninety percent attributable to Frost and ten percent attributable to Medical Group, and that Medical Group was liable for $500,000 in punitive damages. Medical Group appealed.
The Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District stated in its July 10, 2024 opinion: “Punitive damages against a health care provider “shall be made only upon a showing by a plaintiff that the health care provider demonstrated willful, wanton or malicious misconduct with respect to his actions which are found to have injured or caused or contributed
to cause the damages claimed in the petition.” Section 538.210.8. “For purposes of punitive damages, acting willfully, wantonly, or maliciously is equivalent to acting with a complete indifference to or in conscious disregard for the rights or safety of others.””
Punitive Damages
“When submitting punitive damages in a negligence case, a typical instruction to the jury is that, upon a finding of negligence, it should determine whether a defendant should have known that its conduct created a high degree of probability of injury and thereby showed complete indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of others … “To the jury ‘the high degree of probability’ may be satisfied by the mere fact that [a] particular [injury] occurred.” Alcorn, 50 S.W.3d at 248. “A defendant’s aggressive defense at trial on either the issue of breach of duty or causation may supply, in the jurors’ minds, the ‘complete indifference’ or ‘conscious disregard’ element.” Id. “That is why careful judicial scrutiny is needed to determine whether the conduct was so egregious that it was tantamount to intentional wrongdoing.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). “[T]he conduct must be such that injury is its natural and probable consequence.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).”
The Missouri appellate court held with regard to the jury’s punitive damages award: “We find no such conduct here … the actions and inactions by Medical Group at issue were not so egregious so as to warrant this harsh remedy … The circuit court’s judgment for actual damages is affirmed, its judgment for punitive damages is reversed and remanded with directions to enter an amended judgment in conformity with this opinion.”
Source Frost v. PCRMC Medical Group, Inc., No. SD37969.
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