Recently, the West Virginia Supreme Court heard the long-awaited appeal of a nursing home case where the jury verdict amounted to more than $90 million. The Supreme Court ended up reducing the punitive damages portion by nearly $50 million.

The facts began in 2009, when Dorothy Douglas was admitted to Heartland Nursing Home in Charleston. After less than three weeks, she became malnourished, dehydrated, bed ridden, and largely unresponsive. She also suffered from head trauma after falling numerous times. Douglas's family eventually transferred her to a different nursing facility, before taking her to a hospice care facility, where she died 18 days after her departure from Heartland.

Douglas's son, Tom Douglas, then filed a lawsuit against Manor Care, Inc., the company in charge of the nursing home. He claimed that Manor Care had acted negligent under the West Virginia Medical Professional Liability Act (MPLA), violations of the Nursing Home Act (NHA), corporate negligence, and a breach of fiduciary duty. After a 10-day trial, a jury in Kanawha County awarded Douglas $11.5 million in compensatory damages and $80 million in punitive damages.