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A Pennsylvania appellate court has axed a $10 million wrongful death verdict that a Chester County jury awarded to the family of a woman who died after she was allegedly discharged prematurely from a spinal surgery center.

By looking to the dollar amounts awarded in similar cases, the ruling highlights the value the Superior Court puts on prior precedent when it comes to determining the excessiveness of jury verdicts.

The state Superior Court on Thursday determined that the multimillion-dollar wrongful death award that the jury rendered in Kimble v. Laser Spine Institute was "excessive." Ruling 2-1, the appellate court panel vacated the $10 million award, and remanded the case for a new trial on damages.

The Chester County judge who handled the trial had rejected arguments that the $10 million wrongful death award was excessive. But Superior Court Judge Mary Murray, who wrote the court's nonprecedential opinion, disagreed, and said there did not appear to be enough evidence to support the jury's award.

"Because [Robert] Kimble did not present evidence of economic damages arising from decedent's death, and the evidence he presented related to non-economic damages was limited, we cannot say, on this record, that the evidence supports the $10 million damages award," Murray wrote.

'Dire, to Say the Least'

Lane Jubb of The Beasley Firm, who tried the case for the Kimbles, said in an emailed statement that the opinion only appeared to be critical of the trial court's explanation of the evidence, and less concerned with the actual evidence underlying the case.

The legal implications, Jubb said, are "dire, to say the least."

"Although it was a nonprecedential decision with a dissent, it compared Mr. Kimble's result to a few other wrongful death awards without consideration of the underlying damage evidence in those cases in order to conclude Mr. Kimble's award was too high," Jubb said. "We look forward to the next steps in getting the jury's thoughtful award reinstated and finally getting Mr. Kimble fully compensated for the devastating loss of his wife."

The case stemmed from allegations that the Laser Spine Institute discharged Sharon Kimble while she still had a significant amount of the anesthetic Dilaudid in her system. The plaintiff contended the facility should have continued to monitor Kimble, who was found dead hours after clinicians discharged her with instructions to take additional pain medication.

According to the plaintiff's pretrial memo, Kimble was 50 in January 2014 when she underwent the procedure. She had chronic back pain, and had been taking narcotic pain medication for seven years before the procedure. The Kimbles, court papers said, were from Ohio, and so they stayed at a hotel close to the surgery center. Court papers said the spinal center instructed Kimble to take her pain medication up to and including the day of the surgery.

The Kimbles' pretrial memo said that, although she had received six times the amount of Dilaudid than was initially ordered, she was discharged from the surgery center two hours after the procedure. Kimble was found dead in the hotel a few hours later.

According to court records, the defendants contended that the treatment had been proper, and that the high dosage of Dilaudid was necessary because Kimble had a high tolerance for pain medication, given how long she had been taking medication to treat her back pain.

Greater Than Other Awards

The jury ultimately awarded the plaintiffs a total of $20 million, including $10 million for wrongful death and $10 million under the Survival Act. The jury also found the spinal center 65% liable, and Dr. Glenn Rubenstein, the anesthesiologist who treated Kimble, 35% liable.

According to Murray, following trial, the trial court granted the defendants' request for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict regarding the $10 million Survival Act award.

On appeal to the Superior Court challenging the remaining $10 million, the defendants contested the jury's liability findings and argued that the trial court erred in denying their motion notwithstanding the verdict on the wrongful death damages. Murray ejected those arguments, however, regarding the wrongful death award, she found the judge had erred by not vacating the verdict.

First, Murray said, the trial court's decision did not fully address the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the wrongful death award, and second, she said, the verdict was "far greater than other wrongful death awards for loss of society and comfort that this court has affirmed," noting several cases where the wrongful death award was between $1.5 million and $2.5 million.

"Based on the trial court's failure to examine the evidence in this case in addressing appellants' challenge to the excessiveness of the jury's 10 million dollar award, and the award's lack of consistency with other wrongful death verdicts in Pennsylvania, particularly for damages for loss of society and comfort, we conclude that the award was excessive," Murray said.

Judge James Gardner Colins joined Murray, but Judge Carolyn Nichols noted her dissent.

On appeal, John Hare of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin represented Rubenstein, and Lamb McErlane attorney Maureen McBride represented the Laser Spine Institute.

"We're obviously pleased the Superior Court vacated the wrongful death damages award," McBride said. "We're currently reviewing the decision and weighing our options."

Hare declined to comment.