Julian Garnes and Sharon Games, Plaintiffs Below, Appellees v. Fleming Landfill, Inc. and John T. Fleming…

Summary

On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court for reconsideration in light of Pacific Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals reversed a judgment awarding $105,000 in punitive damages (with no compensatory damages) to the Gameses for nuisance arising from the Flemings' landfill. The court held that the post-verdict review the award received was neither meaningful nor adequate under Haslip, overruled Syllabus Point 3 of Wells v. Smith to the extent it permitted punitive damages without any compensatory damages, and announced a new statewide system of constrained jury instructions, trial-court post-verdict review factors, and particularized appellate review for punitive damages awards. No separate opinions were filed.