Products Liability Law Reporter

A Florida appellate court held that a trial court had not erred in allowing a plaintiff to plead a punitive damages claim in an Engle progeny suit.

In this Engle progeny wrongful death case, a trial court allowed a plaintiff to plead a punitive damages claim. The tobacco company defendants appealed, arguing that the trial court had erred in allowing the plaintiff to plead the claim in that the defendants had previously paid hundreds of millions of dollars in punitive damages and Fla. Stat. §768.73 (2) limited any further punitive damages against them.

Affirming, the appellate court noted that under §768.72(1), in any civil action, no claim for punitive damages is permitted unless there is a reasonable showing providing a reasonable basis for recovery of such damages. Here, the court said, the trial court had not erred in finding a reasonable basis to allow the plaintiff to plead a punitive damages claim. The plaintiff proffered evidence that has been ruled sufficient to support punitive damages in past Engle progeny cases, the court said. Moreover, the court found that at the pleading stage, the inquiry is solely whether a plaintiff has a reasonable evidentiary basis to prove the requirements for punitive damages, and that a trial court cannot make factual determinations as to whether punitive damages are permitted.

Citation: R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Jones, 2024 WL 2836955 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. June 5, 2024).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ member Bard D. Rockenbach, West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Jonathan R. Gdanski, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.