WV Supreme Court Considers Hospital's Appeal of $1.3 Million Sanctions Award
Last spring, the Circuit Court of Wood County, West Virginia awarded $1.3 million in sanctions against Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital and its lawyer for their alleged misconduct before and during the trial of a medical malpractice action (which itself resulted in a verdict of $6.5 million).
The Supreme Court of Appeals today considered the hospital’s petition for appeal from the sanctions award. The Court did not have the vote posted on its website by the end of the day, but it should be posted tomorrow. Here are the hospital’s petition for appeal and the plaintiff’s response in opposition, courtesy of plaintiff's counsel, Chris Regan.
Even though the Court rejected the hospital’s petition for appeal from the underlying malpractice verdict, I think the Court will accept this petition because of the amount of the award and in order to review the alleged (mis)conduct at issue in the case. It is rare enough in West Virginia for a trial court to award sanctions, but to do so in this amount is startling.
