Jurors awarded $10.1 million in damages to the family of an overdose victim Tuesday, hoping the multimillion verdict strikes fear into other "pill mills" that have turned Houston into a national hub for prescription drug abuse.
"Our verdict shows how much our community is against these pill mills and wants things to change," said juror Lauren Simmons, after finding gross negligence led to the overdose death of Michael Skorpenske of Conroe.
Another juror, Tim Bammel, agreed, saying the verdict issued in 234th District Judge Reece Rondon's court should discourage others who might be improperly churning out the addictive drugs that killed Skorpenske.
Skorpenske, 54, died July 7, 2007, two days after his only visit to the Family Medi Clinic in The Woodlands where he received a prescription for three potent drugs: hydrocodone, xanax and soma.
He had sought help there for chronic pain he suffered from a motorcycle injury and a fall at a petrochemical plant.
The clinic's director, Dr. Maurice Conte, had prescribed this same drug combo — known as the "holy trinity" — at least 3,800 times between 2006 and 2007 at more than 17 pain area clinics that he then oversaw, records showed. But his prescription-writing came to an abrupt halt when he was forced to surrender his license to the Texas Medical Board just three days after Skorpenske died.
Conte, who repeatedly pleaded the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination during the four-day trial, was found grossly negligent and slapped with the stiffest penalty: $9.05 million.
The 72-year-old physician chose not to be present for the reading of the verdict, and his attorney, Thomas Swanson, declined comment.
The Skorpenske family's attorney, Tommy Hastings, commented on Conte's absence: "I don't think he has any remorse or compassion. The other two defendants expressed their sympathy about Skorpenske's death, but Conte took the Fifth even on that."
Hastings believes other pill mills will take notice, especially "if their only motive is profit and we can take that away."
Another defendant, Melissa Martin, was also found grossly negligent and ordered to pay about $745,000 in damages. She was an equal owner of the cash-only clinic along with her husband, Harris County sheriff's deputy Lewis Martin Jr., and a chiropractor, Michael Kabzinski.
Kabzinski settled out of court for an undisclosed amount before the trial started. The plaintiffs say they were unaware of Lewis Martin Jr.'s involvement until after the statute of limitations had run out.
The third defendant, Jimmy Moore, a recruiter who placed the doctor at the clinic, was ordered to pay the least, $85,000, because one of the 12 jurors did not believe his involvement met the test for punitive damages.
Skorpenske's 88-year-old mother, Augusta Jackson, who was a plaintiff along with her son's three children, was speechless after the verdict. Then her eyes teared and she said, "Maybe some of those pill clinics will shut down. Let's hope,"
Skorpenske's sister, Sandra Smith, referring to more than 1,200 pill deaths recorded in the last two years, says "the jury has given a lot of hope to other families of those who are
By CINDY HORSWELL