Case Name: Deana A. DESSANTI and Arnold Blair Dale, Appellants/Cross-Appellees, v. Carmen Maria CONTRERAS, as Administrator and Personal Representative of the Estate of Flor Torres Osterman and as Guardian for and on behalf of Carmen Lorena Duarte, Minor Child, Appellee/Cross-Appellant
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1997-06-18
Citations: 695 So. 2d 845
Docket Number: Nos. 95-1938, 95-1939
Parties: Deana A. DESSANTI and Arnold Blair Dale, Appellants/Cross-Appellees, v. Carmen Maria CONTRERAS, as Administrator and Personal Representative of the Estate of Flor Torres Osterman and as Guardian for and on behalf of Carmen Lorena Duarte, Minor Child, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.
Judges: GROSS, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 695
Pages: 845–849

Head Matter:
Deana A. DESSANTI and Arnold Blair Dale, Appellants/Cross-Appellees, v. Carmen Maria CONTRERAS, as Administrator and Personal Representative of the Estate of Flor Torres Osterman and as Guardian for and on behalf of Carmen Lorena Duarte, Minor Child, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.
Nos. 95-1938, 95-1939.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
June 18, 1997.
Rehearing Denied July 29, 1997.
David B. Pakula of Kubicki Draper, Miami, for appellants/cross-appellees.
Nancy Little Hoffman of Nancy Little Hoffman, P.A., and Hiram M. Montero of Montero, Finizio, Velasquez & Weissing, P.A, Fort Lauderdale, for appellee/cross-ap-pellant.

Opinion:
WARNER, Judge.
In this appeal, the appellants contend that the trial court committed reversible error by failing to bifurcate the issue of punitive damages from the issues of negligence and compensatory damages in violation of the dictates of W.R. Grace & Co. v. Waters, 638 So.2d 502 (Fla.1994). We hold that while Grace requires bifurcation of the determina tion of the amount of punitive damages from the issues of negligence, compensatory damages, and liability for punitive damages, the error in failing to bifurcate under the facts of this case was harmless. We therefore affirm.
Appellant Dale struck and killed a pedestrian, Florence Osterman, whose estate is the appellee in this case. Dale left the scene of the accident but later called 911 to report that he thought he might have hit something. When the police finally took Dale into custody and performed a blood alcohol test four hours after the accident, it revealed that he had a blood alcohol level of .10%. Osterman was survived by an eighteen month old child.
The estate filed suit against Dale and Des-santi, the owner of the vehicle. Prior to trial, the defendants filed a motion to bifurcate the plaintiffs claim for the amount of punitive damages from the remainder of the issues at trial. For the purposes of the motion, Dale was willing to admit his liability for punitive damages, although he was not prepared to admit the underlying facts that would permit the award of punitive damages, including the fact that he was intoxicated. The motion recited that because of the concession "all of the factual evidence regarding the happening of this accident would go merely to the jury's determination of the amount of punitive damages; and thus would only be admissible in the second stage of the trial." The trial court denied the motion.
At trial in opening statement, Dale's attorney questioned whether Dale was speeding and questioned whether or not the decedent was walking in the roadway with her back to the traffic, a violation of a traffic statute. As the trial court noted, the attorney opened the door for the evidence concerning liability for punitive damages to come in. About half of the witnesses who testified were offered on the issues of Dale's negligence and for punitive damages. The remaining witnesses testified to compensatory damage issues.
While the appellee asked the jury for a verdict for ten million in compensatory damages, the jury awarded the estate $1 million against both Dessanti and Dale. The jury also awarded $110,000 in punitive damages against Dale, which the court later reduced to $5,000 on a motion for remittitur. Dale and Dessanti both appeal the trial court's failure to bifurcate the trial, and the estate appeals the remittitur of the punitive damage award.
The estate argues that Dessanti does not have standing to file this appeal, because after suit was filed, but prior to trial, Dessan-ti filed for and was discharged from bankruptcy. As a result, there is no possibility that Dessanti will have to personally pay the judgment. However, even though the debt owed by Dessanti may have been discharged in bankruptcy, the debt itself is not discharged. Matter of Edgeworth, 993 F.2d 51 (5th Cir.1993). After the adverse jury verdict, Dessanti filed suit against U.S. Security, for acting in bad faith. Under section 627.7262, Florida Statutes (1991), any judgment against Dessanti could be enforceable against U.S. Security. If a jury were to find that U.S. Security acted in bad faith, it could be held liable for the entire amount of the compensatory damages in excess of its policy limits, or $990,000. Thus, we hold that U.S. Security is the real party in interest for this appeal and therefore the issue of bifurcation of the amount of punitive damages from the remainder of the case is not moot.
W.R. Grace came to the supreme court on a certified question concerning the propriety of imposing successive punitive damage awards against a single defendant for the same course of conduct. United States Mineral Prods. Co. v. Waters, 610 So.2d 20, 23 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992). The bifurcation requirement it adopted was in response to the prejudicial effect of introducing evidence of other punitive damage awards when the defense is "trying to convince a jury that its conduct is worthy of no punishment at all." Grace, 638 So.2d at 506. The supreme court required bifurcation of only the calculation of the amount of punitive damages from the remaining issues at trial. This is explicit in the opinion:
We hold that henceforth trial courts, when presented with a timely motion, should bifurcate the determination of the amount of punitive damages from the remaining issues at trial. At the first stage of a trial in which punitive damages are an issue, the jury should hear evidence regarding liability for actual damages, the amount of actual damages, and liability for punitive damages, and should make determinations on those issues.
Id. (emphasis supplied).
Here, the appellants requested bifurcation of the amount of punitive damages from the remaining issues on the premise that he would admit liability for punitive damages. Yet he was unwilling to concede the underlying facts. Part and parcel of a jury's decision as to liability for punitive damages is a determination of the egregiousness of a defendant's conduct — the determination of liability requires a decision as to the extent of the defendant's "bad conduct."
Bifurcation to avoid presentation of evidence of liability for punitive damages in the first stage of the trial was never addressed in W.R. Grace, and the court was concerned about only the effect that evidence of financial considerations relevant to the amount of punitive damages may have in coloring a jury's determination of the issue of liability for punitive damages. Thus, W.R. Grace does not compel bifurcation of issues so that the defendant can prevent prejudicial information regarding his liability for punitive damages from reaching the jury. In fact, since appellants admitted entitlement for punitive damages, no financial information could poison the finding of liability for punitive damages. The purpose to be accomplished by a W.R. Grace bifurcation was to segregate financial issues from liability issues. This was not a concern in this case. The defendants' net worth here was a pittance, and the court entered a remittitur of the larger award given by the jury. Failing to bifurcate the determination of the amount of punitive damages created no harm in this case which the application of a W.R. Grace bifurcation was intended to prevent. We do not accept the harmless error analysis of the dissent because the dissent readily admits that the bifurcation sought in this case was not for the purposes for which the supreme court established the procedure. Moreover, Dale did not object at trial to the introduction of the challenged testimony, nor did he accept the trial court's offer to use instructions to limit the jury's consideration of the allegedly prejudicial testimony.
What the appellants really request us to decide is that the evidence on liability for punitive damages was so prejudicial that it should not have been presented in the same proceeding in which compensatory damages were determined. Severance of claims is permitted under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.270. However, it is a discretionary ruling. Moreover, this case is no different than many other cases where evidence on the liability for punitive damages is presented in the first stage of the proceedings. We have never held that severance in such cases is mandated.
Finding that the error in the failure to bifurcate the determination of the amount of punitive damages from the issues of liability and compensatory damages was harmless, we affirm. We find no error in the trial court's order on remittitur and affirm on the cross-appeal.
GROSS, J., concurs.
HAUSER, JAMES C., Associate Judge, concurs in part and dissents in part with opinion.
. Prior to trial, U.S. Security offered the plaintiff Dessanti's policy limits of $10,000, but the offer was rejected.