Opinion ID: 163868
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Availability of Punitive Damages Under the Whistleblower Act

Text: 53 The Whistleblower Act does not specifically provide for punitive damages, nor does it explicitly rule them out. See Utah Code Ann. § 67-21-5(1) (A court, in rendering a judgment in an action brought under this chapter, may order reinstatement of the employee at the same level, the payment of back wages, full reinstatement of fringe benefits and seniority rights, actual damages, or any combination of these remedies.) The wording of the statute, however, makes it clear that the list of remedies is meant to be exclusive — listing four specific remedies or a combination of them. Under the doctrine of expressio unius est exclusio alterius, to express or include one thing implies the exclusion of the other, or of the alternative. Black's Law Dictionary (7th ed.1999). The notion is one of negative implication: the enumeration of certain things in a statute suggests that the legislature had no intent of including things not listed or embraced. Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Okla. v. Nat'l Indian Gaming Comm'n, 327 F.3d 1019, 1034 (10th Cir. 2003). 54 In interpreting Utah law, we are of course guided in the first instance by the pronouncements of that state's highest court. The Utah Supreme Court has expressed some reservations about the application of the expressio unius doctrine. [T]his principle is only an aid to statutory interpretation; it is not a rule of law, and it has only limited application. Cullum v. Farmers Ins. Exch., 857 P.2d 922, 924 (Utah 1993). Indeed, we have recognized that it is a valuable servant, but a dangerous master. Monson v. Carver, 928 P.2d 1017, 1025 (Utah 1996) (internal quotation marks omitted). In Monson, the court rejected an expressio unius -style reading of the state constitution and held that the absence of the term `restitution' from the constitutional provision setting forth the [Parole] Board's powers does not preclude the Board from ordering restitution as a condition of parole. Id. This conclusion, however, was predicated on the court's previous holdings that the constitution grants plenary authority on the Board to impose conditions of parole, even absent legislation specifying particular conditions. Id. (emphasis added). 55 Here, the state legislature failed to mention punitive damages, one of the two basic types of damages, in a law that authorized various specific forms of relief (reinstatement, back pay, seniority rights, and actual damages). See Utah Code Ann. § 67-21-5(1). Indeed, the legislature twice mentioned actual damages without mentioning punitive damages. See id.; Utah Code Ann. § 67-21-4(2) (An employee who alleges a violation of this chapter may bring a civil action for appropriate injunctive relief or actual damages, or both.) We are therefore unwilling to read punitive damages into a statute that does not expressly authorize them. 56