Judge denies Anthony's request to toss punitive damages from civil trial - OS

Judge denies Anthony's request to toss punitive damages from civil trial

3:29 p.m. EST, November 9, 2012|
By Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel

A judge has denied Casey Anthony's attempt to severely limit the potential damages she could be ordered to pay in the defamation lawsuit set for trial early next year.

Orange Circuit Judge Lisa Munyon ruled that Anthony's motion to strike Zenaida Gonzalez's claim for punitive damages in the lawsuit was not filed according to proper procedure.

Munyon denied the request "without prejudice," meaning Anthony's lawyers could ask the judge to revisit the issue on different legal grounds.

Gonzalez says her life was upended after Anthony said a similarly named nanny had kidnapped her daughter, 2-year-old Caylee Anthony, in 2008. Detectives discovered the nanny didn't exist, and the girl was dead.

Gonzalez's attorneys were already granted permission to pursue punitive damages — basically, an additional penalty meant to punish Anthony and discourage similar conduct in the future — by a prior judge in the suit. But Anthony's lawyer Charles Greene argued at a hearing this week that the case has "dramatically changed" since that decision.

The reason: A ruling by the judge in April, which threw out part of Gonzalez's defamation case. Greene argued that what remains isn't enough to show Anthony acted with "deliberate and malicious" intent or a "wanton disregard" for the truth.

"I beseech you, judge to throw out the punitive damages and make this case about what it's really about," the alleged damage to Gonzalez and not "the character of Casey Anthony," Greene argued at a hearing Wednesday.

Gonzalez attorney John Dill countered there was no reason for Munyon to go against the prior judge's ruling. Dill said Anthony's behavior shows "evidence of bad faith," and evidence suggests her lies were deliberate and damaging.

Dill also argued that a motion like the one Greene filed wasn't the proper way to ask a judge to throw out a claim for punitive damages. In her order, Munyon wrote that "The Court agrees."

The suit is set for trial Jan. 2. As the date grows closer, there has been a substantial uptick in filings, with many issues still yet to be decided by the judge.

Anthony's lawyers have asked in a slew of motions to block from the suit any references to Anthony's murder trial, the search for her daughter Caylee in 2008, media reports from the high-profile case, and any claims by Gonzalez that she lost wages due to the lawsuit, or that Anthony's statements had an impact on Gonzalez's children.

Most of those motions are set to heard on Dec. 18, the next major date in the lawsuit.

Anthony was acquitted on all major charges in her daughter's death after an ultra-high-profile trial last year. She is living in hiding after completing a probation term in an unrelated case, but has been subpoenaed to appear and testify at trial.

For those who followed Anthony's criminal trial gavel-to-gavel, the civil suit will feature several familiar faces: Anthony's parents, her brother the lead investigator from her murder case were all listed as witnesses by Gonzalez in a filing Thursday.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-11-09/news/os-casey-anthony-damages-denied-20121109_1_zenaida-gonzalez-damages-circuit-judge-lisa-munyon