Opinion ID: 1316031
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Availability of Punitive Damages for Medical Monitoring

Text: While many courts have recognized medical monitoring, either as a distinct cause of action or as a recoverable item of damages, few courts have definitively authorized an award of punitive damages in a medical monitoring claim. Despite this scant authority, support nevertheless exists for such an award.
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).
Other jurisdictions also have been reluctant to definitely determine whether punitive damages are available in a claim for medical monitoring. Only the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has definitively spoken on this issue. In Carlough v. Amchem Products, Inc., 834 F.Supp. 1437 (E.D.Pa.1993), the court observed that the exposure-only plaintiffs [therein] have alleged a cognizable claim for medical monitoring and punitive damages and observed, further, that it is not uncommon for plaintiffs to join claims for punitive damages with claims for medical monitoring. 834 F.Supp. at 1459-60 (footnote omitted) (citing Sterling v. Velsicol Chem. Corp., 855 F.2d 1188 (6th Cir.1988), modified on other grounds as stated in American & Foreign Ins. Co. v. General Elec. Co., 45 F.3d 135 (6th Cir.1995); Day v. NLO, Inc., 814 F.Supp. 646 (S.D.Ohio 1993); Cook v. Rockwell Int'l Corp., 755 F.Supp. 1468 (D.Colo.1991); In re Fernald Litig., No. C-1-85-149, 1989 WL 267039 (S.D.Ohio Sept. 29, 1989); Catasauqua Area Sch. Dis. v. Raymark Indus., Inc., 662 F.Supp. 64 (E.D.Pa.1987)). More recently, this same court has, in the context of interpreting and applying Delaware state law, concluded that the Delaware Supreme Court would permit a claim for medical monitoring. Guinan v. A.I. duPont Hosp. for Children, 597 F.Supp.2d 517, 538 (E.D.Pa.2009). However, the district court then deviated from its prior ruling in Carlough and determined that [l]imiting the remedy [in medical monitoring cases] to compensatory damages and expressly excluding noneconomic and punitive damages serves as a disincentive to the hordes of plaintiffs' attorneys who the Supreme Court feared might be tempted to bring an onslaught of medical monitoring litigation. See Paoli I, [ In re Paoli R.R. Yard PCB Litig., 916 F.2d 829,] 850 [(3d Cir.1990)] ([A]n action for medical monitoring seeks to recover only the quantifiable costs of periodic medical examinations necessary to detect the onset of physical harm ....) (emphasis added); Friends for All Children, [Friends for All Children, Inc. v. Lockheed Aircraft Corp., 746 F.2d 816,] 826 [(D.C.Cir.1984)] (noting that [i]n the absence of physical symptoms, emotional distress caused by potential risk may ... be thought too speculative to support recovery). 597 F.Supp.2d at 540 n. 10 (referencing Metro-North Commuter R.R. Co. v. Buckley, 521 U.S. 424, 117 S.Ct. 2113, 138 L.Ed.2d 560 (1997)). Subsequently, in Hess v. A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children, No. 08-0229, 2009 WL 595602 (E.D.Pa. Mar. 5, 2009), the district court again quoted this language from Paoli to the effect that the remedy for a medical monitoring claim is `only the quantifiable costs of periodic medical examinations necessary to detect the onset of physical harm.' 2009 WL 595602, at  (quoting In re Paoli R.R. Yard PCB Litig., 916 F.2d at 850) (footnote and additional citations omitted). The court then commented that, [i]n Guinan I, [Guinan v. A.I. duPont Hospital for Children, 597 F.Supp.2d 517 (E.D.Pa.2009),] we interpreted this language to mean that punitive damages are not available with medical monitoring claims. [597 F.Supp.2d] at [540] n. 10. 2009 WL 595602, at  n. 9. [7] Other jurisdictions, though not definitely allowing or disallowing punitive damages in medical monitoring, have nevertheless implicitly allowed punitive damages to be recovered in medical monitoring cases. In each of these cases, the plaintiffs asserted claims seeking both medical monitoring costs and punitive damages. The majority of courts presented with such claims have permitted the punitive damages claims to proceed because the courts have not expressly found that punitive damages are improper in conjunction with a medical monitoring claim. However, these courts have not directly ruled upon the punitive damages issue, finding instead that punitive damages are more properly tried on an individual case-by-case basis rather than in a class action, either because the facts supporting a punitive damages award are too individualized or because the plaintiffs are residents of different states, each of which has different standards for the imposition of punitive damages. See In re Baycol Prods. Litig., 218 F.R.D. 197 (D.Minn.2003) (medical monitoring claims failed to satisfy requirements for class certification, and punitive damages not proper for class certification because different facts supported individual plaintiffs' claims for punitive damages and different states' laws governed punitive damages awards); Lewallen v. Medtronic USA, Inc., No. C 01-20395 RMW, 2002 WL 31300899 (N.D.Cal. Aug. 28, 2002) (punitive damages not proper for class certification because different facts supported individual plaintiffs' claims for punitive damages and different states' laws governed punitive damages awards); In re Telectronics Pacing Sys., Inc., 172 F.R.D. 271 (S.D.Ohio 1997) (punitive damages not proper for class certification because different states' laws governed punitive damages awards); Baker v. Wyeth-Ayerst Labs. Div., 338 Ark. 242, 251, 992 S.W.2d 797, 802 (1999) (medical monitoring claims failed to satisfy requirements for class certification, but acknowledging, regarding superiority inquiry, that the asymptomatic plaintiffs also asked for punitive damages, which could justify the cost of individual litigation). See also Hansen v. The American Tobacco Co., Inc., No. LR-C-96-881, 1999 WL 33659388 (E.D.Ark. July 21, 1999) (medical monitoring claims failed to satisfy requirements for class certification, thus not reaching issue of whether punitive damages are available for medical monitoring); Marin v. Brush Wellman, Inc., No. B208202, 2009 WL 2596259 (Cal.Ct.App. Aug. 24, 2009) (same); Wilson v. Brush Wellman, Inc., 103 Ohio St.3d 538, 817 N.E.2d 59 (2004) (same). Cf. Abbatiello v. Monsanto Co., 522 F.Supp.2d 524, 543 (S.D.N.Y.2007) (upholding plaintiffs' claims, including claim for medical monitoring, and concluding that plaintiffs' allegations of [defendants'] willful and wanton misconduct can be asserted as part of an `underlying cause of action upon which a demand for punitive damages can be grounded' (quoting Rocanova v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc'y of the U.S., 83 N.Y.2d 603, 616, 612 N.Y.S.2d 339, 344, 634 N.E.2d 940, 945 (1994))). But see Gallien v. Procter & Gamble Pharms., Inc., No. 09 Civ. 6903(JFK), 2010 WL 768937, at  (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 5, 2010) (denying punitive damages for medical monitoring because, under Louisiana law, statute must specifically authorize punitive damages and governing statute did not specifically authorize punitive damages in connection with medical monitoring claim); Trimble v. Asarco, Inc., 232 F.3d 946 (8th Cir.2000) (denying punitive damages for medical monitoring because neither medical monitoring nor punitive damages are cognizable claims under Nebraska law), abrogated on other grounds by Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Allapattah Servs. Inc., 545 U.S. 546, 125 S.Ct. 2611, 162 L.Ed.2d 502 (2005). Still other courts have permitted plaintiffs to amend their complaints to add punitive damages claims. See, e.g., In re Harvey Term Litig., 872 So.2d 584 (La.Ct.App.2004) (permitting plaintiffs asserting claims for medical monitoring and property remediation to amend complaint to assert facts in support of claim for punitive damages); Foust v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transp. Auth., 756 A.2d 112 (Pa.Commw.Ct.2000) (upholding plaintiffs' amended complaint which added class claims for medical monitoring, emotional distress, property damage, and punitive damages).