Hylton v. Gunter

Summary

The court held that a judgment is final and appealable when the trial court has awarded common-law punitive damages limited to attorney's fees and litigation costs, even though the amount of those fees remains undetermined. Applying a bright-line rule for attorney's-fee issues, the court overruled the contrary intermediate appellate precedent and reversed the dismissal of the appeal. The case was remanded for consideration of the defendant's appellate claims on the merits.