With only $28 in compensatory damages awarded, the court found that $500k in punitive damages was excessive, particularly when plaintiffs' counsel used shockingly inflammatory language during the trial. (Credit: Studio Romantic/Shutterstock.com)
An attempt to bar evidence from a retrial of a jury decision was declined by the Superior Court of Delaware, Kent, in a case stemming from a bad faith delay in paying out a workers' comp claim following a worksite death.
The estate of Mark Krieger sued AmGuard for allegedly delaying payment for Krieger's workers' compensation benefits in bad faith. The jury found that AmGuard delayed investigation and payment of the claim in bad faith and found that AmGuard "recklessly disregarded" the family's rights. Ultimately, the jury awarded the estate $500,000 in punitive damages even though only $28 in compensatory damages were awarded.
AmGuard moved for a new trial, which the superior court ordered because the jury's $500,000 in punitive damages award "shocked [its] conscience given the evidence at trial." The court decided in favor of a new trial also because the estate's counsel reportedly made several inflammatory statements in closing matters that did not flow from reasonable inferences from the evidence, which may have influenced the jury to base its excessive reward on passion or prejudice.
AmGuard then filed several motions to bar evidence from the retrial, which the estate objected to on the basis that the insurer failed to object to these items in the initial trial, therefore waiving its rights. The superior court denied all of AmGuard's motions.
AmGuard argued that references in the first trial that called the insurer "filth" that "light[s] their cigars" with the money the company withheld from the estate were inflammatory. The court held that the trial could not "be sanitized" to the extent the insurer required and left it to the retrial court to resolve objections as they arise.
The superior court also dismissed arguments to exclude references to "secrets," limit testimony and bar excerpts from other Delaware decisions in the retrial.
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