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Defendant appealed the jury’s verdict that found plaintiff had incurred $200,000 in compensatory damages due to his addiction to opioids allegedly caused by defendant’s negligence, attributed 90 percent fault to plaintiff and ten percent to defendant, and found defendant liable for $500,000 in punitive damages. On appeal, defendant argued that plaintiff’s complaint was partially untimely and challenged the punitive damages award.

Although plaintiff’s claims were timely under the continuing care exception, the jury’s punitive damages verdict could not stand where the evidence did not support submitting the issue of punitive damages to the jury, as there was no evidence of defendant’s “complete indifference” or “conscious disregard” of risks to plaintiff.

Judgment is affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part.

Frost v. PCRMC Medical Group, Inc. (MLW No. 81819/Case No. SD37969 – 32 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, Borthwick, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Phelps County, Hickle, J. (Kenneth William Bean, St. Louis; Michelle Marie Drake, St. Louis; Timothy Charles Sansone, St. Louis; and Zachary Stephen Merkle, St. Louis, for appellant) (John G. Simon, St. Louis; Timothy Michael Cronin, St. Louis; John Mathew Simon, St. Louis; and Elizabeth Criswell McNulty, St. Louis, for respondent)