Ditto v. McCurdy

MOON, Chief Justice.

We granted defendant-appellant-petitioner John A. McCurdy, Jr., M.D.’s (Dr. McCurdy) petition for a writ of certiorari to review the decision of the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) in Ditto v. McCurdy, 86 Hawai'i 93, 947 P.2d 961 (App.1997). For the reasons discussed below, we (1) reverse the jury’s finding of liability with respect to fraud; (2) vacate the jury’s award of punitive damages; and accordingly (3) remand with instructions to the trial court to dismiss the fraud count and conduct a new trial solely on the issue of the amount of punitive damages owed. In all…