Opinion ID: 654201
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Joint and Several Liability for Punitive Damages

Text: 40 The plaintiffs contend that the district court erred in refusing to assess punitive damages jointly and severally among the defendants. They note that each defendant was found liable for civil conspiracy and that the general rule is that each conspirator is jointly and severally liable for all damages resulting from a conspiracy. From this they argue that each defendant is necessarily jointly and severally liable for all punitive, as well as compensatory, damages. 41 The plaintiffs, however, cite no applicable case law to support their conclusion, and the plaintiffs' second proposition, that punitive damages must be imposed jointly and severally, does not necessarily follow from the first. It is one thing to hold a conspirator liable for all harm (compensatory damages) done by the conspiracy. It is quite another, substantial step to impose joint and several liability for the award of punitive damages, which serve a very different purpose. Unlike compensatory damages, which have as their purpose the desire to make the plaintiff whole, the purpose of imposing punitive damages is to punish the wrongdoers and to deter future conduct. Feingold v. Southeastern Pa. Transp. Auth., 512 Pa. 567, 517 A.2d 1270, 1276 (1986); accordChuy v. Philadelphia Eagles Football Club, 595 F.2d 1265, 1277 (3d Cir.1979) (in banc); Delahanty v. First Pa. Bank, N.A., 318 Pa.Super. 90, 464 A.2d 1243, 1262-63 (1983). 42 The parties have extensively briefed the appropriateness and availability of joint and several liability for punitive damages under Pennsylvania law. 6 While the question is interesting, regardless of whether punitive damages may be assessed jointly and severally under Pennsylvania law, we have found no currently applicable law suggesting that they must be awarded jointly and severally. See, e.g.,Neal v. Carey Canadian Mines, Ltd., 548 F.Supp. 357, 389 (E.D.Pa.1982) (noting that modern Pennsylvania practice encourages the joinder of joint tortfeasors in a single suit but with the ability to receive individual judgments against each, including for punitive damages), aff'd sub nom.,Van Buskirk v. Carey Canadian Mines, Ltd., 760 F.2d 481 (3d Cir.1985); see alsoMcKinnon v. City of Berwyn, 750 F.2d 1383, 1387 (7th Cir.1984) (The assessment of punitive damages against individual defendants creates no problem; punitive damages, like criminal fines, which they resemble, are always assessed individually.). 43 Here, the jury instructions clearly demonstrate that the issue of punitive damages was submitted to the jury on the theory that they would be assessed and awarded on an individual basis against the defendants. Specifically, the jury was instructed: 44 You must determine whether punitive damages are to be assessed against each defendant by that defendant's conduct alone, and the amount of any punitive damages assessed must be measured by your consideration of the factors which I have enumerated as they apply to each particular defendant. 45 While you will return your award of compensatory damages, if any, in one lump sum amount as to all defendants, you must return a separate verdict as to punitive damages, if any, against each of the defendants, because you have to consider these factors which differ as to each defendant. 46 The court also instructed the jury that in making the awards it should consider a number of factors, including how outrageous the conduct of the individual defendant was, the nature and extent of the harm caused or intended to be caused, and the wealth of the particular defendant, as it bore on the amount necessary to punish and deter that defendant. 7 47 Additionally, there was wide variation in the punitive damages awarded against the various defendants, which reflects the seriousness with which the jury took these instructions. The punitive damages in this case were clearly awarded by the jury on an individualized basis. Since the case was tried on the theory that punitive damages would be awarded individually and since there was no legal bar to trying the case in that manner, the order of the district court in this respect will be affirmed. 48 Plaintiffs also make a more limited, but related argument in an effort to spread the liability for the payment of punitive damages. 8 The argument is predicated on defendants Upshur Agency and David Boggs being agents of defendants Consol, Monongahela, and Rheinbraun. Under Pennsylvania law a principal may be held vicariously liable for the punitive damages of its agents if the actions of the agent were clearly outrageous, were committed during and within the scope of the agent's duties, and were done with the intent to further the principal's interests. Delahanty v. First Pa. Bank, N.A., 318 Pa.Super. 90, 464 A.2d 1243, 1264 (1983). Thus, the plaintiffs submit, since these defendants were found to have acted outrageously and were clearly the agents of the defendant-principals, the defendant-principals should be held liable for the punitive damages awarded against their agents. 49 Again, however, the relief the plaintiffs seek through this argument is foreclosed by the jury instructions. The court's charge to the jury on this point provided: 50 While you will return your award of compensatory damages, if any, in one lump sum amount as to all defendants, you must return a separate verdict as to punitive damages, if any, against each of the defendants, because you have to consider these factors which differ as to each defendant. 51 .... 52 Plaintiffs claim that defendants Boggs, Reese and Wilson were the agents of the remaining defendants. It is for you to determine from all of the evidence the nature of the relationship then and there existing among the defendants. 53 If the conduct of an agent is outrageous, punitive damages may be awarded against the principal if the principal authorized the doing and the manner of the act, or the agent was unfit and the principal was reckless in employing him, or the agent was employed in a managerial capacity and was acting in the course of his employment, or the principal or another agent of the principal employed in a managerial capacity ratified or approved the act, or the agent's act was foreseeable. 54 The jury thus was explicitly instructed that one additional factor to be considered in making its individualized awards of punitive damages was the degree to which a principal should be held accountable for the outrageous conduct of its agents. Thus, even assuming that the jury found that some of the defendants were vicariously liable for the punitive damages of some of the agents, 9 the appropriate manner for the jury to have accounted for these punitive damages, under the instructions, was to include the punitive damages chargeable to the agent's outrageous conduct within the individualized awards assessed against the specific defendant principals. We have no reason to doubt, but rather must assume, that it did so. SeeUnited States v. Zauber, 857 F.2d 137, 154 (3d Cir.1988) (A jury is presumed to have acted rationally. We must assume that the jury followed the court's instructions and arrived at a verdict based on those instructions.), cert. denied, 489 U.S. 1066, 109 S.Ct. 1340, 103 L.Ed.2d 810 (1989). 55 For all the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the district court's order rejecting plaintiffs' claim that punitive damages should be entered against the defendants jointly and severally. 56