COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA — An appeals court trimmed, but left largely intact, a judge’s $29.5 million verdict against a South Carolina nursing home accused of repeatedly mistreating a woman who died emaciated and covered in wounds and bed sores.
Saying there was plenty of evidence the nursing home and its employees engaged in behavior that was “grossly negligent, reckless, willful and wanton,” the South Carolina Court of Appeals upheld the judge’s decision to exceed statutory caps on punitive damages against Sterling Healthcare.
Jean Watkins placed her mother at Sterling’s Country Wood Nursing Home in 2011 at the age of 73. She weighed about 115 pounds and had several preexisting conditions but was expected to recover. Instead, she was repeatedly admitted to the hospital with urinary tract infections, flesh wounds and a dislocated thumb. Jean notified nursing home personnel multiple times about her mother’s condition but testified they didn’t respond. A leg wound was caused by a jagged piece of metal on a bed which the nursing home sawed off after discovering similar hazards on 15 other beds.
Mildred Watkins died of a urinary tract infection in December 2011 weighing 80 pounds. Her daughter sued Sterling on behalf of herself and several relatives. The company didn’t respond to orders to turn over evidence and Richland County Judge ordered almost $30 million in damages in 2022, including $19.2 million in punitives.
Defending the verdict, the judge wrote: “This is the most egregious case of elder neglect/abuse I have ever witnessed—and most of the similar cases I have seen involve the criminal side of my jurisdiction. ... If any of the three corporations were a person, they would be jailed for the rest of their lives.”
The judge lifted the statutory cap on punitive damages in South Carolina, normally three times actual damages, under an exception allowing for four times damages or $2 million if the court finds the defendant acted intentionally, for financial gain or if the conduct was criminal.
The appeals court largely agreed with the judge’s findings, except for allowing hearsay testimony by the plaintiff that the nursing home employees intentionally hurt her mother.
“There is a wealth of evidence that staff treated Watkins with callous disregard, but there is no evidence that staff acted to intentionally harm her,” the appeals court said.
The evidence did support the judge’s conclusion some of the behavior was criminal in nature, the court said.
The trial judge ordered $2.8 million in damages in the survival action and the appeals court reduced the punitive damages on that claim to $11.2 million, within the statutory cap as well as the single-digit ratio required under U.S. Supreme Court precedent. The court upheld ordered $7.5 million in wrongful death awards to Watkins’ relatives and $2.5 million in punitive damages, for a total of $24 million.
