Opinion ID: 2625838
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: mrs. campbell's standing to sue for bad faith

Text: ¶ 114 In view of our holding that the jury verdicts on fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress should be sustained, and that they independently support all of the damages awarded in this case, see Parts V and VI, supra; Crookston I, 817 P.2d at 798; Osbourne, 667 A.2d at 1328, we need not address the question of Mrs. Campbell's right to sue State Farm for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Notwithstanding the dissent's lengthy advisory opinion on the subject, the question of standing on these facts remains an open question in Utah, awaiting attention from this court in a future case. The dissent apparently offers its views in support of its conclusion that the jury's verdict on damages was somehow prejudiced by having the bad faith claim intermingled with the fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims. We conclude that this notion is entirely inconsistent with the record and the jury's verdict below. This jury responded to the factual conduct of State Farm, and, in our view, rightly so. Whether the basis for recovery bore the label of bad faith, fraud, or intentional infliction of emotional distress, it was the same behavior by State Farm that the jury clearly intended to compensate for and to punish. We do not believe the jury was at all affected in its decision and verdict by the legal labels applied to describe the conduct. Thus, even if the dissent were correct in its view on this question, any error would have been harmless in its effect on damages. ¶ 115 In addition, we do not agree with the dissent that the punitive damages award must fail because it was awarded jointly to Mr. and Mrs. Campbell rather than separately to each plaintiff. Punitive damages, are, by nature, not to compensate but to punish and deter future egregious conduct. Crookston I, 817 P.2d 789, 807 (Utah 1991). Therefore, the award of punitive damages is determined by the defendant's conduct and need not be separated as to plaintiff. The dissent cites Crookston I, 817 P.2d 789 (Utah 1991) for its claim that the punitive damages award should be remanded due to its joint nature. Crookston I, however, does not support this proposition. In Crookston I, we reviewed the issue of whether punitive damages were excessive under the circumstances of that case. Id. at 793-94. The joint nature of the punitive damages award was never questioned. Id. at 811-12. ¶ 116 Furthermore, we do not believe that State Farm was prejudiced by the jury instructions, which referred to the Campbells jointly. The only case cited by the dissent in support of this assertion is Nielsen v. Pioneer Valley Hospital, 830 P.2d 270 (Utah 1992). That case, however, involved only one plaintiff and says nothing about separating plaintiffs in jury instructions. Rather, the instructions in Nielsen were erroneous because separate instructions were contradictory with regard to two alternate legal theories presented by plaintiff. See id. at 274. The instructions were faulty because the two theories required conflicting standards, and the jury could have found defendant liable on either theory. See id. In this case, there was no danger, as the dissent claims, of misperception that Mrs. Campbell's claims were caused by [ ] State Farm's actions toward Mr. Campbell. As stated previously, the jury clearly awarded punitive damages based on State Farm's egregious conduct toward both Mr. and Mrs. Campbell. Just as we do not believe the jury's decision and verdict were affected by the legal labels applied to State Farm's conduct, neither do we believe that referring to the Campbells in the aggregate in the jury instructions had any effect on the damages awarded. ¶ 117 Finally, we note that the dissent has developed and espoused a theory requiring reversal in this case that was not raised below, briefed by the parties, or raised in oral argument before this court. That theory appears to rely on what the dissent terms a faulty verdict in phase I of the trial below, a verdict in favor of both plaintiffs. That verdict was not challenged at the time of its entry nor was it raised in this appeal. Our review of the record and of the briefs in this appeal demonstrate that the wording of the verdict was never mentioned or relied on as a ground for claimed error. It is a well-established rule that we will not reverse a trial court on the basis of claims and arguments not raised below, let alone those not even argued on appeal. [19]