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Mabry-Wright v. Zlotnik10/24/2005
r medical malpractice, wrongful death, and for malicious conduct in destroying medical records in an effort to hide wrongdoing. The trial court awarded actual damages for medical malpractice and wrongful death, and awarded punitive damages for the destruction of medical records even though no actual damages were proven on that claim. The court of appeals overturned the award of punitive damages because there was no compensable harm resulting from the destruction of records. The Supreme Court of Ohio reversed, finding that the plaintiff need not prove an independent compensable harm in order to recover for the malicious tortious conduct. Id. at 343.
{ } Moskovitz is inapplicable to this case because in that case there was underlying tortious conduct for which plaintiff had recovered actual damages. The Supreme Court specifically held that punitive damages were available when compensatory damages were awarded for medical malpractice and there was an additional showing of "an intentional alteration, falsification or destruction of medical records [in order to] avoid liability for * medical negligence." Id. at 344. Thus, punitive damages were only available in that case for malicious conduct done in an attempt to avoid tort liability. Those circumstances are not present in the case sub judice, and therefore we find that case inapplicable.
{ } Accordingly, we find that the jury's determination that no actual damages resulted from Zlotnik's tortious conduct precludes an award of punitive damages for that same conduct. Mabry-Wright's assignment of error is overruled, and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
CUPP, P.J. and BRYANT, J., concur.
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