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

Heading: Effect of Medical Monitoring Punitive Damages on Subsequent Personal Injury Recovery

Text: As we recognized in Tudor, a plaintiff may not twice recover punitive damages for the same injury inflicted by the same defendant. See Syl. pt. 14, Tudor, 203 W.Va. 111, 506 S.E.2d 554. However, a medical monitoring plaintiff who receives punitive damages and then later has a manifestation of the injury the monitoring is designed to detect, files suit for such physical injury, [8] and receives an award of compensatory and punitive damages could potentially receive such an impermissible double recovery. Several safeguards are in place, however, to ensure that the injured plaintiff's recovery of punitive damages is not duplicative. First, the factors to be considered in awarding and reviewing an award of punitive damages requires a consideration of the actions the defendant has taken in mitigation of his/her damages. See generally Syl. pts. 3 & 4, Garnes, 186 W.Va. 656, 413 S.E.2d 897 (detailing factors for jury and judge to consider in awarding punitive damages). See also Davis & Palmer, Punitive Damages Law, at 40 (indicating that review of punitive damages award under Garnes requires an examination of any mitigating evidence that would permit a reduction in the amount of a punitive damage award). Therefore, a trial court presiding over a personal injury case in which the plaintiff has previously received punitive damages in his/her medical monitoring suit must consider such damages as a mitigating factor with respect to the amount of punitive damages that may be awarded in the subsequent personal injury case and may have to remit said award to prevent an improper double recovery. See generally Davis & Palmer, id., at 40. Moreover, our holding in Tudor specifically directs trial courts to review awards of emotional distress damages and corresponding awards of punitive damages to ensure no impermissible double recovery has occurred: Where a jury verdict encompasses damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress, absent physical trauma, as well as for punitive damages, it is incumbent upon the circuit court to review such jury verdicts closely and to determine whether all or a portion of the damages awarded by the jury for intentional infliction of emotional distress are duplicative of punitive damages such that some or all of an award for punitive damages would constitute an impermissible double recovery. If the circuit court determines that an impermissible double recovery has been awarded, it shall be the court's responsibility to correct the verdict. Syl. pt. 15, Tudor, 203 W.Va. 111, 506 S.E.2d 554. A similar standard should be implemented in medical monitoring cases insofar as an award of medical monitoring damages has been observed to inherently contain a deterrence component: `[T]here is a deterrence value in recognizing medical surveillance claimsallowing plaintiffs to recover the cost of this care deters irresponsible discharge of toxic chemicals by defendants.' Bower, 206 W.Va. at 140, 522 S.E.2d at 431 (quoting Potter, 6 Cal.4th at 1008, 25 Cal. Rptr.2d at 579, 863 P.2d at 824) (additional internal quotations and citations omitted). Such reviews for mitigating factors and duplicity would ensure that a plaintiff will not receive an improper double recover of punitive damages for medical monitoring.