Source: https://www.chanrobles.com/usa/us_supremecourt/461/30/case.php
Timestamp: 2020-08-11 00:10:35
Document Index: 765425370

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 908', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 908', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 3', '§ 34', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 45', '§ 1983', '§ 287', '§ 34', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 59', '§ 5', '§ 1983', '§ 2', '§ 1988', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1988']

SMITH V. WADE, 461 U. S. 30 (1983)
US Supreme Court Decisions On-Line> Volume 461 > SMITH V. WADE, 461 U. S. 30 (1983)
Subscribe to Cases that cite 461 U. S. 30
2. A jury may be permitted to assess punitive damages in a § 1983 action when the defendant's conduct involves reckless or callous indifference to the plaintiff's federally protected rights, as well as when it is motivated by evil motive or intent. The common law, both in 1871 and now, allows recovery of punitive damages in tort cases not only for actual malicious intent, but also for reckless indifference to the rights of others. Neither the policies nor the purposes of § 1983 require a departure from the common law rule. Petitioner's contention that an actual intent standard is preferable to a recklessness standard because it is less vague, and would more readily serve the purpose of deterrence of future egregious conduct, is unpersuasive. Cf. Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U. S. 323. Pp. 461 U. S. 38-51. chanrobles.com-red
BRENNAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which WHITE, MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, and STEVENS, JJ., joined. REHNQUIST, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BURGER, C.J.,and POWELL, J., joined, post, p. 461 U. S. 56. O'CONNOR, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 461 U. S. 92.
We granted certiorari in this case, 456 U.S. 924 (1982), to decide whether the District Court for the Western District of Missouri applied the correct legal standard in instructing the jury that it might award punitive damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1976 ed., Supp. V). [Footnote 1] The Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit sustained the award of punitive damages. Wade v. Haynes, 663 F.2d 778 (1981). We affirm. chanrobles.com-red
During trial, the District Judge entered a directed verdict for two of the defendants. He instructed the jury that Wade could make out an Eighth Amendment violation only by showing "physical abuse of such base, inhumane and barbaric proportions as to shock the sensibilities." Tr. 639. Further, because of Smith's qualified immunity as a prison chanrobles.com-red
In this Court, Smith attacks only the award of punitive damages. He does not challenge the correctness of the instructions chanrobles.com-red
Section 1983 is derived from § 1 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 17 Stat. 13. It was intended to create "a species of tort liability" in favor of persons deprived of federally secured rights. Carey v. Piphus, 435 U. S. 247, 435 U. S. 253 (1978); Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U. S. 409, 424 U. S. 417 (1976). We noted in Carey that there was little in the section's legislative history concerning the damages recoverable for this tort liability, 435 U.S. at 435 U. S. 255. In the absence of more specific guidance, we looked first to the common law of torts (both modern and as of 1871), with, such modification or adaptation as might be necessary to carry out the purpose and policy of the statute. Id. at 435 U. S. 253-264. We have done the same in other contexts arising under § 1983, especially the recurring problem of common law immunities. [Footnote 2] chanrobles.com-red
Smith correctly concedes that "punitive damages are available in a proper' § 1983 action. . . ." Carlson v. Green, 446 U. S. 14, 446 U. S. 22 (1980); Brief for Petitioner 8. Although there was debate about the theoretical correctness of the punitive damages doctrine in the latter part of the last century, the doctrine was accepted as settled law by nearly all state and federal courts, including this Court. [Footnote 3] It was likewise generally established that individual public officers were liable for punitive damages for their misconduct on the same basis as other individual defendants. [Footnote 4] See also Scott v. Donald, 165 U. S. 58, 165 U. S. 77-89 (1897) (punitive damages for constitutional tort). Further, although the precise issue of the availability of punitive damages under § 1983 has never come squarely chanrobles.com-red
before us, we have had occasion more than once to make clear our view that they are available; indeed, we have rested decisions on related questions on the premise of such availability. [Footnote 5] chanrobles.com-red
Smith argues, nonetheless, that this was not a "proper" case in which to award punitive damages. More particularly, he attacks the instruction that punitive damages could be awarded on a finding of reckless or callous disregard of or indifference to Wade's rights or safety. Instead, he contends that the proper test is one of actual malicious intent -- "ill will, spite, or intent to injure." [Footnote 6] Brief for Petitioner 9. chanrobles.com-red
Smith does not argue that the common law, either in 1871 or now, required or requires a showing of actual malicious intent chanrobles.com-red
Perhaps not surprisingly, there was significant variation (both terminological and substantive) among American jurisdictions in the latter 19th century on the precise standard to be applied in awarding punitive damages -- variation that was exacerbated by the ambiguity and slipperiness of such common terms as "malice" and "gross negligence." [Footnote 8] Most of the chanrobles.com-red
confusion, however, seems to have been over the degree of negligence, recklessness, carelessness, or culpable indifference that should be required -- not over whether actual intent chanrobles.com-red
Id. at 62 U. S. 214 (emphasis added). [Footnote 9] chanrobles.com-red
Id. at 91 U. S. 495 (emphasis added). The Court therefore held erroneous a jury instruction allowing a punitive award on "gross negligence"; it concluded that the latter term was too vague, and too likely to be confused with mere ordinary negligence, to provide a fair standard. It remanded for a new trial. [Footnote 10] chanrobles.com-red
Missouri Pacific R. Co. v.Humes, 115 U. S. 512, 115 U. S. 521 (1885). See also Minneapolis & St. Louis R. Co. v. Beckwith, 129 U. S. 26, 129 U. S. 34 (1889) ("culpable negligence"). [Footnote 11] chanrobles.com-red
The large majority of state and lower federal courts were in agreement that punitive damages awards did not require a showing of actual malicious intent; they permitted punitive awards on variously stated standards of negligence, recklessness, or other culpable conduct short of actual malicious intent. [Footnote 12] chanrobles.com-red
§ 908(2) (emphasis added); see also id., Comment b. Most cases under state common law, although varying in chanrobles.com-red
The remaining question is whether the policies and purposes of § 1983 itself require a departure from the rules of tort common law. As a general matter, we discern no reason why a person whose federally guaranteed rights have chanrobles.com-red
Smith's argument, if valid, would apply to ordinary tort cases as easily as to § 1983 suits; hence, it hardly presents an argument for adopting a different rule under § 1983. In any event, the argument is unpersuasive. While, arguendo, an intent standard may be easier to understand and apply to particular situations than a recklessness standard, we are not persuaded that a recklessness standard is too vague to be fair or useful. In the Milwaukee case, 91 U. S. 489 (1876), we adopted a recklessness standard rather than a gross negligence standard precisely because recklessness would better serve the need for adequate clarity and fair application. Almost chanrobles.com-red
In this case, the jury was instructed to apply a high standard of constitutional right ("physical abuse of such base, inhumane and barbaric proportions as to shock the sensibilities"). It was also instructed, under the principle of chanrobles.com-red
This argument incorrectly assumes that, simply because the instructions specified the same threshold of liability for chanrobles.com-red
D. Dobbs, Law of Remedies 204 (1973) (footnote omitted). [Footnote 14] Compensatory damages, by contrast, are mandatory; once liability is found, the jury is required to award compensatory damages in an amount appropriate to compensate the plaintiff for his loss. [Footnote 15] Hence, it is not entirely accurate to say that punitive and compensatory damages were awarded in this case on the same standard. To make its punitive award, the jury was required to find not only that Smith's conduct met the recklessness threshold (a question of ultimate fact), but also that his conduct merited a punitive award of $5,000 in addition to the compensatory award (a discretionary moral judgment). chanrobles.com-red
Accordingly, in situations where the standard for compensatory liability is as high as or higher than the usual threshold for punitive damages, most courts will permit awards of punitive damages without requiring any extra showing. Several courts have so held expressly. [Footnote 17] Many other courts, not directly addressing the congruence of compensatory and punitive thresholds, have held that punitive damages are available on the same showing of fault as is required by the underlying tort in, for example, intentional infliction of emotional distress, [Footnote 18] defamation of a public official chanrobles.com-red
This common law rule makes sense in terms of the purposes of punitive damages. Punitive damages are awarded in the jury's discretion "to punish [the defendant] for his outrageous conduct and to deter him and others like him from similar conduct in the future." Restatement (Second) of Torts § 908(1) (1979). The focus is on the character of the tortfeasor's conduct -- whether it is of the sort that calls for deterrence and punishment over and above that provided by compensatory awards. If it is of such a character, then it is appropriate to allow a jury to assess punitive damages; and that assessment does not become less appropriate simply because the plaintiff in the case faces a more demanding standard of actionability. To put it differently, society has an interest in deterring and punishing all intentional or reckless invasions of the rights of others, even though it sometimes chanrobles.com-red
As with his first argument, Smith gives us no good reason to depart from the common law rule in the context of § 1983. He argues that too low a standard of exposure to punitive damages in cases such as this threatens to undermine the policies of his qualified immunity as a prison guard. The same reasoning would apply with at least as much force to, for example, the First Amendment and common law immunities involved in the defamation cases described above. In any case, Smith overstates the extent of his immunity. Smith is protected from liability for mere negligence because of the need to protect his use of discretion in his day-to-day decisions in the running of a correctional facility. See generally Procunier v. Navarette, 434 U. S. 555 (1978); Wood v. Strickland, 420 U. S. 308 (1975). But the immunity on which Smith relies is coextensive with the interest it protects. [Footnote 22] The very fact that the privilege is qualified reflects a recognition that there is no societal interest in protecting those uses of a prison guard's discretion that amount to reckless or callous indifference to the rights and safety of the prisoners in his charge. Once the protected sphere of privilege is exceeded, we see no reason why state officers should not be liable for their reckless misconduct on the same basis as private tortfeasors. [Footnote 23] chanrobles.com-red
See, e.g., the cases cited in nn. 8 and < a>| 8 and < a>S. 30fn12|>12, infra; Day v. Woodworth, 13 How. 363 (1852); Philadelphia, W. & B.R. Co. v. Quigley, 21 How. 202 (1859); Milwaukee & St. Paul R. Co. v. Arms, 91 U. S. 489 (1876); Missouri Pacific R. Co. v. Humes, 115 U. S. 512 (1885); Barry v. Edmunds, 116 U. S. 550 (1886); Minneapolis & St. Louis R. Co. v. Beckwith, 129 U. S. 26 (1889); Scott v. Donald, 165 U. S. 58 (1897).
Press Pub. Co. v. McDonald, 63 F.2d 8, 246 (CA2 1894). Accord, e.g., 62 U. S. 214 (1859); South & N. A. R. Co. v. McLendon, 63 Ala. 266, 273-275 (1879); Yerian v. Linkletter, 80 Cal.135, 138, 22 P. 70, 71 (1889) (Paterson, J., concurring); Cameron v. Bryan, 89 Iowa 214, 219, 56 N.W. 434 (1893); Lynd v. Picket,@ 7 Minn. at 200-202.
JUSTICE REHNQUIST also cites 54 U. S. 371 (1852), in support of an actual intent requirement. Post at 461 U. S. 70. The language used in that case ("wanton and malicious, or gross and outrageous") was precisely the precedent that the Philadelphia Court was exegeting in the passage quoted in text, when it held that "malice" includes "criminal indifference." Moreover, the [email protected] case did not present any issue of punitive damages; the Court discussed them merely as a sidelight to the costs and fees issue presented.
As with Philadelphia, n 9, supra, JUSTICE REHNQUIST's dissent reads this case as imposing a requirement of actual malicious intent, on the assumption that, when the Court said "indifference to consequences," it really meant "intent to cause consequences," and when it said "recklessness," it really meant "bad motive or intent to injure." Post at 461 U. S. 70-73. This textual alchemy is untenable. For one thing, JUSTICE REHNQUIST's analysis of the case reflects the confusion in his dissent of motive with consciousness, see n 6, supra; post at 461 U. S. 71-72, n. 7. Moreover, the Milwaukee Court did not say, or come close to saying, that recklessness is identical to intent, or that it is material only as evidence of intent; rather, it said that recklessness is "equivalent" to intent, meaning that the two are equally culpable and deserving of punishment and deterrence. 91 U.S. at 91 U. S. 493. This also explains the Court's reference, two sentences later, to "evil motive," ibid. JUSTICE REHNQUIST's great reliance on this sentence confuses the standard for punitive damages with the rationale for them. Plainly, read in context, what the Court meant is that punitive damages are justified by the moral culpability of evil intent, or by the "equivalent" culpability of "reckless indifference to the rights of others." See also Cowen v. Winters, 96 F.9d 9, 934-935 (CA6 1899); Alabama G. S. R. Co. v. Hill, 90 Ala. 71, 80, 8 So. 90, 93 (1890); Memphis & C. R. Co. v. Whitfield, 44 Miss. 466, 494-495 (1870); Thirkfield v. Mountain View Cemetery Assn., 12 Utah 76, 82, 41 P. 564, 565 (1895). The contrary reading adopted by JUSTICE REHNQUIST's dissent is flatly inconsistent with the Court's reiteration of the rule, 91 U.S. at 91 U. S. 495 (emphasis added): "that entire want of care which would raise the presumption of a conscious indifference to consequences." Try as he might, JUSTICE REHNQUIST cannot transform indifference, conscious or otherwise, into intent.
Id. at 127 (ellipsis in original). Accord, e.g., Cowen v. Winters, 96 F. at 934-935; Press Pub. Co. v. McDonald, 63 F. at 245-247; Morning Journal Assn. v. Rutherford, 51 F.5d 3, 514-515 (CA2 1892); Fotheringham v. Adams Express Co., 36 F.2d 2, 253-254 (CC ED Mo. 1888); United States v. Taylor, 35 F.4d 4, 488 (CC SD Ala. 1888); Malloy v. Bennett, 15 F.3d 1, 373-374 (CC SDNY 1883); Berry v. Fletcher, 3 F.Cas. 286, 288 (No. 1,357) (CC Mo. 1870); Alabama G. S. R. Co. v. Arnold, 80 Ala. 600, 608, 2 So. 337, 342 (1886); Texarkana Gas & Electric Light Co. v. Orr, 59 Ark. at 224, 27 S.W. at 68; Dorsey v. Manlove, 14 Cal.553, 555-556 (1860); Florida Railway & Navigation Co. v. Webster, 25 Fla. 394, 419-420, 5 So. 714, 719 (1889); Jacobus v. Congregation of Children of Israel, 107 Ga. 518, 521, 33 S.E. 853, 855 (1899); Drohn v. Brewer, 77 Ill. 280, 282-283 (1875); Citizens' St. R. Co. v. Willoeby, 134 Ind. 563, 569-570, 33 N.E. 627, 629 (1893); Sawyer v. Sauer, 10 Kan. 466, 470 (1872); Goddard v. Grand Trunk R. Co., 57 Me. 202, 218 (1869); Lynd v. Picket, 7 Minn. at 200-202; Memphis & C. R. Co. v. Whitfield, 44 Miss. at 494-495, 500; Buckley v. Knapp, 48 Mo. 152, 161-162 (1871); Caldwell v. New Jersey Steamboat Co., 47 N.Y. 282, 296 (1872); Sullivan v. Oregon Railway & Navigation Co., 12 Ore. 392, 404-406, 7 P. 508, 517 (1885) (dictum); Lake Shore & M. S. R. Co. v. Rosenzweig, 113 Pa. 519, 543-544, 6 A. 545, 552-553 (1886); Hart v. Charlotte, C. & A. R. Co., 33 S.C. 427, 435-436, 12 S.E. 9, 10 (1890); Haley v. Mobile & O. R. Co., 66 Tenn. 239, 242-243 (1874); Brooke v. Clark, 57 Tex., at 112-114; Thirkfield v. Mountain View Cemetery Assn., 12 Utah at 82, 41 P. at 564-565; Earl v. Tupper, 45 Vt. 275, 286-287 (1873) (dictum); Borland v. Barrett, 76 Va. 128, 132-134 (1882); Pickett v. Crook, 20 Wis. 358, 359 (1866); Union Pacific R. Co. v. Hause, 1 Wyo. 27, 35 (1871).
This case requires us to determine what degree of culpability on the part of a defendant in an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1976 ed., Supp. V) will permit an award of punitive damages. The District Court instructed the jury that it could award punitive damages in favor of the plaintiff if it concluded that the defendant's conduct constituted "reckless or callous disregard of, or indifference to, the rights or safety of others." In my view, a forthright inquiry into the intent of the 42d Congress and a balanced consideration of the public policies at issue compel the conclusion that the proper standard for an award of punitive damages under § 1983 requires at least some degree of bad faith or improper motive on the part of the defendant. chanrobles.com-red
Before examining these points, however, it is useful to consider briefly the purposes of punitive damages. A fundamental premise of our legal system is the notion that damages are awarded to compensate the victim -- to redress the injuries that he or she actually has suffered. D. Dobbs, Law of Remedies § 3.1 (1973); C. McCormick, Law of Damages chanrobles.com-red
Fay v. Parker, 53 N.H. 342, 382 (1872). [Footnote 2/2] Such remarks reflect a number of deeply held reservations regarding punitive damages, which can only be briefly summarized here. chanrobles.com-red
Because of these considerations, a significant number of American jurisdictions refuse to condone punitive damages awards. See, e.g., Killibrew v. Abbott Laboratories, 359 So.2d 1275 (La.1978); Burt v. Advertiser Newspaper Co., 154 Mass. 238, 28 N.E. 1 (1891) (Holmes, J.); Miller v. Kingsley, 194 Neb. 123, 124, 230 N.W.2d 472, 474 (1975); Vratsenes v. New Hampshire Auto, Inc., 112 N.H. 71, 73, 289 A.2d 66, 68 (1972); Pereira v. International Basic Economy Corp., 95 P. R. R. 28 (1967); Maki v. Aluminum Building Products, 73 Wash.2d 23, 25, 436 P.2d 186, 187 chanrobles.com-red
One fundamental distinction is essential to an understanding of the differences among the various standards for punitive damages. Many jurisdictions have required some sort of wrongful motive, actual intention to inflict harm or intentional doing of an act known to be unlawful -- "express malice," "actual malice," "bad faith," "wilful wrong" or "ill will." [Footnote 2/3] chanrobles.com-red
Other States, however, have permitted punitive damages awards merely upon a showing of very careless or negligent conduct by the defendant -- "gross negligence," "recklessness," chanrobles.com-red
or "extreme carelessness." [Footnote 2/4] In sharp contrast to the first set of terms noted above, which connote a requirement of actual ill will towards the plaintiff, these latter phrases import only a degree of negligence. This distinction between chanrobles.com-red
acts that are intentionally harmful and those that are very negligent, or unreasonable, involves a basic difference of kind, not just a variation of degree. W. Prosser, Law of Torts § 34, p. 185 (4th ed.1971); Restatement (Second) of chanrobles.com-red
Simpson v. McCaffrey, 13 Ohio 508, 522 (1844). The Ohio court, applying this distinction, held that punitive damages could only be awarded where some "evil motive" chanrobles.com-red
At bottom, this case requires the Court to decide when a particular remedy is available under § 1983. Until today, ante at 461 U. S. 34-35, n. 2, the Court has adhered, with some fidelity, to the scarcely controversial principle that its proper role in interpreting § 1983 is determining what the 42d Congress intended. That § 1983 is to be interpreted according to this basic principle of statutory construction, 2A C. Sands, Sutherland on Statutory Construction § 45.05 (4th ed.1972), is clearly demonstrated by our many decisions relying upon the plain language of the section. See, e.g., Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U. S. 527, 451 U. S. 534 (1981); Maine v. Thiboutot, 448 U. S. 1, 448 U. S. 4 (1980); Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U. S. 622, 445 U. S. 635 (1980). The Court's opinion purports to pursue an inquiry chanrobles.com-red
Id. at 341 U. S. 376. More recently, in Newport v. Fact Concerts, Inc., 453 U. S. 247, 453 U. S. 258 (1981), we said: chanrobles.com-red
Likewise, our other decisions with respect to common law immunities under § 1983 clearly reveal that our consideration of state common law rules is only a device to facilitate determination of congressional intent. [Footnote 2/6] Decisions from the chanrobles.com-red
The Court also purports to rely on decisions, handed down in the second half of the last century by this Court, in drawing up its rule that mere recklessness will support an award of punitive damages. In fact, these decisions unambiguously support an actual malice standard. The Court rests primarily on 62 U. S. 214. As discussed previously, 461 U. S. 3, supra,@ it was relatively clear at the time that "malice" required a showing of actual ill will or intent to injure. Perhaps foreseeing future efforts to expand the rule, however, we hastened to specify the type of malice that would warrant punitive damages:
The Court does not address the requirement, explicitly set forth in Quigley, that punitive damages depend on the spirit in which an act was conceived. Instead, focusing only on the words "criminal indifference," ante at 461 U. S. 41-42, n. 9, the Court chanrobles.com-red
Of course, as the Court notes, there are crimes based on reckless or negligent conduct; it reasons from this that the "criminality" requirement in Quigley is not confined to cases where persons act with wrongful intent. Yet the requirement of "criminal" spirit is far more sensibly interpreted, not as incorporating every possible twist and turn of criminal law, but as reflecting "a principle of our legal system . . . that the essence of an offence is the wrongful intent." 1 Bishop, supra, § 287. Indeed, the Court's argument proves far too much: if we are to assume that the reference to "criminal indifference" in Quigley was meant, as the Court argues, to incorporate every possible mental state that justifies the imposition of criminal sanctions, then punitive damages would be available for simple negligence. Plainly our decision in Quigley does not stand for this remarkable proposition. chanrobles.com-red
Even assuming some ambiguity in our decision in Quigley, however, the careful discussion of punitive damages in 54 U. S. 371 (1852), dispels any doubts. While the Court dismisses this treatment as "merely . . . a sidelight," ante at 461 U. S. 42, n. 9, in Quigley, we evidently thought otherwise: in addition to citing and relying explicitly on Day, see 21 How. at 62 U. S. 213-214, we also drew our punitive damages standard from that case. Ibid. [email protected] made it perfectly clear that punitive damages cannot be awarded absent actual evil motive. It reasoned that punitive damages are predicated on the "malice, wantonness, oppression, or outrage of the defendant's conduct," and stated the following standard:
Our decisions following 1871 indicate yet more clearly that we adhered to an actual malice or intent to injure requirement in punitive damages actions. In Milwaukee & St. Paul R. Co. v. Arms, 91 U. S. 489 (1876), a verdict against a railroad in a diversity action was reversed because the jury was erroneously charged that it might award punitive damages on chanrobles.com-red
This interpretation of the opinion in Arms is the only reading that can be squared with the holding of that case. [Footnote 2/7] The chanrobles.com-red
W. Prosser, Law of Torts § 34, p. 185 (4th ed.1971); see also 461 U. S. 3, supra. Given the virtual identity of the two standards, a Court that held that "gross negligence" was too imprecise a standard to warrant a punitive damages award would not likely have intended its dicta to be read as adopting "recklessness" as an alternative standard. In contrast, a standard of culpability demanding inquiry into the wrongful mental state of the defendant -- "evil motive," chanrobles.com-red
Id. at 91 U. S. 496 (emphasis added). [Footnote 2/8] The defendant in the case, who left electrical wires strung several feet above the ground across a city street in Denver without any real warning, may well have been reckless; certainly, as in fact occurred, a jury could have reached this conclusion. But this was irrelevant: in order to recover punitive damages, an "intentional wrong" is what was needed. chanrobles.com-red
147 U.S. at 147 U. S. 110. The Court went on to note that "criminal intent [is] necessary to warrant the imposition of [punitive] damages," id. at 147 U. S. 111, and elsewhere wrote that "wanton, malicious or oppressive intent" and "unlawful and criminal intent," were required for the award of such damages. Ibid.; id. at 147 U. S. 114. Prentice simply leaves no question that actual wrongful intent, not just recklessness, was required for a chanrobles.com-red
In addition, the decisions rendered by state courts in the years preceding and immediately following the enactment of § 1983 attest to the fact that a solid majority of jurisdictions took the view that the standard for an award of punitive damages chanrobles.com-red
included a requirement of ill will. [Footnote 2/10] To be sure, a few jurisdictions followed a broader standard; a careful review of the decisions at the time uncovers a number of decisions chanrobles.com-red
Most clear of all, however, is the fact that, at about the time § 1983 was enacted, a considerable number of the 37 States chanrobles.com-red
then belonging to the Union required some showing of wrongful intent before punitive damages could be awarded. [Footnote 2/12] As the cases set out in the margin reveal, it is but a statement chanrobles.com-red
of the obvious that "evil motive" was the general standard for punitive damages in many States at the time of the 42d Congress. chanrobles.com-red
In short, a careful examination of the decisions available to the Members of the 42d Congress reveals a portrait different in important respects from that painted by the Court. While chanrobles.com-red
a few jurisdictions may have adopted a more lenient, if less precise, standard of recklessness, the majority's claim that the prevailing standard in 1871 was one of recklessness simply chanrobles.com-red
cannot be sustained. The decisions of this Court, which were likely well known to federal legislators, supported an animus requirement. As we said in Day v. Woodworth, 13 chanrobles.com-red
How. 363 (1852), and Philadelphia, W. & B.R. Co. v. Quigley, 21 How. 202 (1859), a "spirit of mischief " was necessary for an award of punitive damages. Among the States, chanrobles.com-red
Other statutes roughly contemporaneous with § 1983 illustrate that, if Congress wanted to subject persons to a punitive damages remedy, it did so explicitly. For example, in § 59, 16 Stat. 207, Congress created express punitive damages remedies for various types of commercial misconduct. Likewise, the False Claims Act, § 5, 12 Stat. 698, provided a civil remedy of double damages and a $2,000 civil forfeiture penalty for certain misstatements to the Government. As one chanrobles.com-red
An intent requirement, unlike a recklessness standard, is logically consistent with the underlying justification for punitive damages. It is a fundamental principle of American law that penal consequences generally ought to be imposed only where there has been some sort of wrongful animus creating chanrobles.com-red
Much of what has been said above regarding the failings of a punitive damages remedy is equally appropriate here. It is anomalous, and counter to deep-rooted legal principles and common-sense notions, to punish persons who meant no harm, and to award a windfall, in the form of punitive damages, to someone who already has been fully compensated. chanrobles.com-red
This argument is particularly powerful in a case like this, where the uncertainty resulting from largely random awards of punitive damages will have serious effects upon the performance by state and local officers of their official duties. [Footnote 2/15] One of the principal themes of our immunity decisions is that the threat of liability must not deter an official's "willingness to execute his office with the decisiveness and the judgment required by the public good." Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U. S. 232, 416 U. S. 240 (1974). To avoid stifling the types of initiative and decisiveness necessary for the "government to govern," Dalehite v. United States, 346 U. S. 15, 346 U. S. 57 (1953) (Jackson, J., dissenting), we have held that officials will be liable for compensatory damages only for certain types of conduct. Precisely the same reasoning applies to liability for punitive damages. Because punitive damages generally are not subject to any relation to actual harm suffered, and because the recklessness standard is so imprecise, the remedy poses an even greater threat to the ability of officials to take decisive, efficient action. After the Court's decision, governmental officials will be subjected to the possibility of damages awards unlimited by any harm they may have caused or the fact they acted with unquestioned good faith: when swift action is demanded, their thoughts likely will be on personal financial consequences that may result from their conduct -- but whose limits they cannot predict -- and not upon their chanrobles.com-red
Moreover, notwithstanding the Court's inability to discern them, there are important distinctions between a right to chanrobles.com-red
damages under § 1983 and a similar right under state tort law. A leading rationale seized upon by proponents of punitive damages to justify the doctrine is that "the award is . . . a covert response to the legal system's overt refusal to provide financing for litigation." D. Dobbs, Law of Remedies 221 (1973); K. Redden, Punitive Damages § 2.4(C) (1980). Yet 42 U.S.C. § 1988 (1976 ed., Supp. V) provides not just a "covert response" to plaintiffs' litigation expenses, but an explicit provision for an award to the prevailing party in a § 1983 action of "a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs." By permitting punitive damages as well as attorney's fees, § 1983 plaintiffs, unlike state tort law plaintiffs, get not just one windfall but two -- one for them and one for their lawyer. This difference between the incentives that are present in state tort actions and those in § 1983 actions makes the Court's reliance upon the standard for punitive damages in the former entirely inapposite: in fashioning a new financial lure to litigate under § 1983, the Court does not act in a vacuum, but, by adding to existing incentives, creates an imbalance of inducements to litigate that may have serious consequences. [Footnote 2/17] chanrobles.com-red
The staggering effect of § 1983 claims upon the workload of the federal courts has been decried time and again. The torrent of frivolous claims under that section threatens to incapacitate the judicial system's resolution of claims where true injustice is involved; those claims which truly warrant redress are in a very real danger of being lost in a sea of meritless suits. Yet, apparently oblivious to this, the Court today reads into the silent, inhospitable terms of § 1983 a remedy that is designed to serve as a "bounty" to encourage private litigation. Dobbs, supra, at 221. In a time when the courts are flooded with suits that do not raise colorable claims, in large part because of the existing incentives for litigation under § 1983, it is regrettable that the Court should take upon itself, in apparent disregard for the likely intent of the 42d Congress, the Legislative task of encouraging yet more litigation. [Footnote 2/18] There is a limit to what the federal judicial system can bear. chanrobles.com-red
See the cases cited in 461 U. S. 12, infra. Decisions handed down at the time the 42d Congress deliberated leave little question that, when a court required a showing of malice in order to recover punitive damages, an inquiry into the actual mental state of the defendant -- his motives, intentions, knowledge, or design -- was required. The Court reasons that, when used in connection with punitive damages, "malice" really meant something akin to recklessness. The cases simply do not support the claim. The term "malice" often was prefaced with the qualifiers "actual" or "express." See, e.g., Barlow v. Lowder, 35 Ark. 492, 496 (1880); Barnett v. Reed, 51 Pa.190, 191 (1865); Boardman v. Goldsmith, 48 Vt. 403, 407, 411 (1875); Ogg v. Murdock, 25 W.Va. 139, 146-147 (1884). When it was not, the context in which it was used virtually always makes it completely clear that an inquiry into the actual intentions and motives of the defendant was required before punitive damages could be awarded. See, e.g., Brewer v. Watson, 65 Ala. 88, 96-97 (1880); Kelly v. McDonald, 39 Ark. 387, 393 (1882); Davis v. Hearst, 160 Cal.143, 163-164, 116 P. 530, 539-540 (1911) ("malice of evil motive"); Huber v. Teuber, 10 D.C. 484, 489-491 (1871); Jeffersonville R. Co. v. Rogers, 38 Ind. 116, 124-125 (1871); Curl v. Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co., 63 Iowa 417, 428-429, 19 N.W. 308 (1884); Lynd v. Picket, 7 Minn. 184 (1862); Carli v. Union Depot, Street R. & T. Co., 32 Minn. 101, 104, 20 N.W. 89, 90 (1884); Winter v. Peterson, 24 N.J.L. 524, 529 (1854); Haines v. Schultz, 50 N.J. L. 481, 484-485, 14 A. 488, 489 (1888); Causee v. Anders, 20 N.C. 246, 248 (1839); Wirdham v. Rhame, 11 S.C.L. 283 (1858). And, even standing alone, the term generally was understood to require inquiry into the defendant's mental state:
Likewise, the Court's conclusion regarding the meaning of decisions using the phrase "willful" is unduly simplified. Like "wanton," the phrase had no fixed meaning, 29 American and English Encyclopedia of Law 114-117 (1895); for the meaning intended in a particular context, reference must be had to the decisions at issue, see n. 461 U. S. 12, infra. If one must generalize, criminal law again is useful, given the "quasi-criminal" character of punitive damages: "the word, as ordinarily used, means not merely voluntarily, but with bad purpose," 29 American and English Encyclopedia of Law 114 (1895). Even more important, however, is the fact that "willful" seldom, if ever, was an independent standard; rather, "willful injury" or "willfully illegal conduct" were the typical contexts in which the phrase appeared. As to these, even apart from the surrounding language of the punitive damages decisions, it was clear that "[t]o constitute wilful injury there must be design, purpose, intent to do wrong and inflict the injury." 30 American and English Encyclopedia of Law 536 (2d ed.1905). And, of course, a "willful trespass" or other misdeed meant an intentionally wrongful act. Id. at 525-529. Thus, in jurisdictions using the term "willfully," the question generally was whether the defendant knowingly and intentionally harmed the plaintiff, or, alternatively, intentionally committed an act he knew to be tortious or unlawful. In both these cases, inquiry into the wrongful motive of the defendant plainly was demanded; of course, recklessness does not satisfy this requirement.
Undoubtedly, the recklessness or objective unreasonableness of particular conduct will be evidence of the intent of the actor, see 461 U. S. 8, infra. This point has been recognized by commentators on the subject. In 1 J. Sutherland, Law of Damages (1882), for example, the author states the general rule that
This Court's understanding of the term "willfully" was clearly stated in Felton v. United States, 96 U. S. 699, 96 U. S. 702 (1878), where, in an action to recover a $1,000 penalty from a distiller, the Court said: "Doing or omitting to do a thing knowingly and willfully implies not only a knowledge of the thing, but a determination with a bad intent. . . ." Likewise, it quoted with approval from a Massachusetts decision stating that "willfully" ordinarily means "not merely voluntarily,' but with a bad purpose." Ibid. See also 461 U. S. 3, supra.
In 1864, the Kansas Supreme Court, although bound by prior precedent, agreed with Professor Greenleaf's condemnation of punitive damages, see 461 U. S. 10, supra, and said "were the question an open one, we should be inclined to [compensation only]." Malone v. Murphy, 2 Kan. at 261. See also Sullivan v. Oregon Railway & Navigation Co., 12 Ore. 392, 7 P. 508 (1885).
The Court relies all but exclusively on the notion that a recklessness standard for punitive damages is necessary to deter unconstitutional conduct by state officials. The issue is a little more complicated. The deterrence the Court pursues necessarily is accompanied by costs: as our decisions regarding common law immunities explicitly recognize, see cases cited in 461 U. S. 6, supra, the imposition of personal liability on officials gravely threatens their initiative and judgment, and scarcely serves to make public positions attractive to competent, responsible persons. While constitutional rights are high on our scale of values, so is an effective performance of the countless basic functions that modern governments increasingly have come to perform. In fashioning a punitive damages standard, we should seek to achieve that level of deterrence that is most worth the costs it imposes.
Although I agree with the result reached in JUSTICE REHNQUIST's dissent, I write separately because I cannot agree with the approach taken by either the Court or JUSTICE REHNQUIST. Both opinions engage in exhaustive, but ultimately unilluminating, exegesis of the common law of the availability of punitive damages in 1871. Although both the Court and JUSTICE REHNQUIST display admirable skills in legal research and analysis of great numbers of musty cases, the results do not significantly further the goal of the inquiry: to establish the intent of the 42d Congress. In interpreting § 1983, we have often looked to the common law as it existed in 1871, in the belief that, when Congress was silent on a point, it intended to adopt the principles of the common law with which it was familiar. See, e.g., 453 U. S. 258 (1981); Carey v. Piphus, 435 U. S. 247, 435 U. S. 255 (1978). This approach makes sense when there was a generally prevailing rule of common law, for then it is reasonable to assume that Congressmen were familiar with that rule and imagined that it would cover the cause of action that they were creating. But when a significant split in authority existed, it strains credulity to argue that Congress simply assumed that one view, rather than the other, would govern. Particularly in a case like this one, in which those interpreting the common law of 1871 must resort to dictionaries in an attempt to translate the language of the late 19th century into terms that judges of the late 20th century can understand, see ante at 461 U. S. 39-41, n. 8; 461 U. S. 61-64, nn. 3, 4, and in an area in which the courts of the earlier period frequently used inexact and contradictory language, see [email protected] at 461 U. S. 45-47, n. 12, we cannot safely infer anything about congressional intent from the divided contemporaneous judicial opinions. The battle of the string citations can have no winner.
Once it is established that the common law of 1871 provides us with no real guidance on this question, we should turn to the policies underlying § 1983 to determine which rule best accords with those policies. In Fact Concerts, we identified the purposes of § 1983 as preeminently to compensate victims of constitutional violations and to deter further violations. 453 U.S. at 453 U. S. 268. See also Robertson v. Wegmann, 436 U. S. 584, 436 U. S. 590-591 (1978); Carey v. Piphus, supra, at 435 U. S. 254-257, and n. 9. The conceded availability of compensatory damages, particularly when coupled with the availability of attorney's fees under § 1988, completely fulfills the goal of compensation, leaving only deterrence to be served by awards of punitive damages. We must then confront the close question whether a standard permitting an award of unlimited punitive damages on the basis of recklessness will chill public officials in the performance of their duties more than it will deter violations of the Constitution, and whether the availability of punitive damages for reckless violations of the Constitution in addition to attorney's fees will create an chanrobles.com-red