Opinion ID: 1316031
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: West Virginia

Text: Although we recognized a cause of action for medical monitoring in Bower, we did not determine whether punitive damages are available in connection with such a claim. Subsequent opinions have touched on the issue, but have not definitively ruled thereon. In our first Chemtall opinion, State ex rel. Chemtall Inc. v. Madden, 216 W.Va. 443, 607 S.E.2d 772 (2004), we observed that the [p]etitioners reserve other substantive challenges... which are not addressed in this case, including the propriety of punitive damages for medical monitoring. 216 W.Va. at 450 n. 3, 607 S.E.2d at 779 n. 3. Later, in our third Chemtall opinion, State ex rel. Chemtall, Inc. v. Madden, 221 W.Va. 415, 655 S.E.2d 161 (2007) (per curiam), we determined that deciding whether punitive damages are available for medical monitoring was premature in the context of that case insofar as a final verdict had not yet been rendered because the case had not yet gone to trial: [W]e ... decline, at this early pre-trial stage, to address the petitioners' claim that punitive damages are not available in cases in which only medical monitoring damages are sought.... [W]e are convinced that appellate review of this issue is better left to the review of a verdict after complete development of all the facts and testimony and after a trial of all the issues. [6] 221 W.Va. at 421 & n. 5, 655 S.E.2d at 167 & n. 5 (footnote retained from original text). However, in his separate opinion to Chemtall III, Justice Benjamin suggested that [p]unitive damages are not appropriate in an equitable medical monitoring class action because the medical monitoring plaintiffs have not asserted personal injury claims, as they have not suffered any actual, present physical injuries from their alleged exposure to [the defendants'] products. 221 W.Va. at 425, 655 S.E.2d at 171 (Benjamin, J., concurring, in part, and dissenting, in part). In reaching this conclusion, Justice Benjamin rejected the definition of a medical monitoring injury discussed in Chemtall I, wherein we referenced the `significantly increased risk of contracting a particular disease.' 221 W.Va. at 425, 655 S.E.2d at 171 (Benjamin, J., concurring, in part, and dissenting, in part) (quoting Chemtall I, 216 W.Va. at 455, 607 S.E.2d at 784) (emphasis added by Justice Benjamin).