Obtaining punitive damages in medical malpractice litigation is notoriously difficult, but when Coral Gables attorneys Thomas Scolaro and Justin Shapiro were retained by the family of a man rendered brain dead at a prison infirmary, they had a feeling the resulting lawsuit would be different.

And they were right, as Polk Circuit Judge Catherine Combee granted a motion for punitive damages against Corizon Health Inc., a leading private prison health services provider accused of ignoring a patient while his health deteriorated.