$108.6 Million Wrongful-Death Verdict in Fatal Home Birth Tied to Faith-Healing Group
After trial: The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, affirmed the full $108.6 million verdict in 2014, upholding both the $8.65 million compensatory award and the $100 million punitive award. The defendants, Caleb Horner, John Horner, and Amber Horner Leathers, are individuals who represented themselves at trial and on appeal, so collectability of the judgment is doubtful.
Won by Humphrey, Farrington & McClain.
A Jackson County jury returned a $108.6 million verdict for the parents of a woman who died from sepsis after her husband's religious group prevented her from receiving medical care during a botched home birth.
What happened
In January 2007, Misty Mansfield Horner died in Lee's Summit, Missouri, roughly a month after delivering a stillborn daughter at home. The delivery turned dangerous when the baby presented in a breech position. During the birth, Caleb Horner performed an episiotomy on his wife using unsterilized household scissors. The wound became infected and Misty developed sepsis. She never received professional medical treatment.
Misty's parents, Gail and Darrell Mansfield, sued Caleb Horner, his brother John Horner, and his sister Amber Horner Leathers. The lawsuit alleged that the Horner family belonged to a religious group that rejected modern medicine, and that members of the group had actively prevented Misty from seeking care as her condition deteriorated over the weeks following the birth.
Attorneys Jonathan Soper and Daniel Thomas of Humphrey, Farrington and McClain tried the case in Jackson County. The jury found all three defendants liable, allocating fault at 45 percent to Caleb, 35 percent to John, and 20 percent to Amber. In December 2012, jurors awarded $8.65 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in damages for aggravating circumstances, for a total of $108,650,000. Missouri Lawyers Media reported the result as the third-largest plaintiffs' verdict in Missouri that year.
The defendants appealed, raising nine separate arguments including challenges to duty, causation, sufficiency of the evidence, due process, and religious freedom protections. The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, rejected all nine and affirmed the judgment in full on June 17, 2014. The $100 million aggravating-circumstances award was not reduced. The opinion is reported at 443 S.W.3d 627.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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