Deerings West Nursing Center, a Division of Hillhaven Corp. v. Scott

OPINION

WOODARD, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment for $35,000.00 actual damages and $200,000.00 punitive damages, founded upon the jury’s finding that the Appellant was both negligent and grossly negligent in the hiring of an unlicensed nurse employee who assaulted the Appellee in its nursing home. We affirm.

On November 2, 1986, at approximately 5:30 a.m., eighty-year-old Velma Ponder Scott came to Deerings to visit her infirm older brother. It was her habit to come at all hours, though it was contended that she had been informed to restrict her visitation to certain hours. On that…