Hylton v. Gunter

Summary

The court held that a judgment is final and appealable when the trial court has resolved liability and awarded common-law punitive damages limited to attorney's fees, even though the amount of those fees remains undetermined. It rejected a case-by-case distinction between attorney's fees awarded as punitive damages and other attorney's-fee awards, overruled the contrary appellate precedent, and reversed the dismissal of the appeal. The case was remanded for consideration of the merits of the defendant's appeal.