Opinion ID: 1138293
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Issue 11: The instruction on the relationship between the punitive damages award and the fraudulent suppression claim.

Text: Independent Life asserts that the trial court instructed the jury that it could award damages for any conduct that it considered wrongful, not just for the conduct of suppression. Independent Life contends that because evidence of other wrongful acts, not just suppression, was presented, the jury could have awarded damages for negligent acts not at issue in this case. It maintains that the instruction was prejudicially vague and misleading. However, we conclude that the trial court's instruction was not vague or misleading. The trial court instructed the jury that the purpose of punitive damages is to protect the public by deterring the defendant and others from doing such wrong in the future, and that in awarding punitive damages the jury should consider the character and degree of wrong and the necessity of preventing similar wrongs. Further, it stated, For a plaintiff to be entitled to recover punitive damages the plaintiff, Mrs. Harrington, must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant consciously or deliberately engaged in fraud, and I have defined that to you. That is suppression as I have defined that to you. (Emphasis added.) We hold that this instruction properly informed the jury that the only claim for which the plaintiff was entitled to recover damages was the claim of fraudulent suppression. Further, we hold that the trial court's charge on the requisite finding of intent was enough to allow an award of punitive damages.
Independent Life argues that the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury that the amount of a punitive damages award must bear a reasonable relationship to compensatory damages. However, in Green Oil Co. v. Hornsby, 539 So.2d 218 (Ala.1989), this Court held that although punitive damages must not exceed an amount that will accomplish the goals of punishment and deterrence, they need not bear a particular relationship to compensatory damages. See also Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U.S. 1, 111 S.Ct. 1032, 113 L.Ed.2d 1 (1991); Southern Life & Health Ins. Co. v. Turner, 586 So.2d 854 (Ala.1991); TXO Production Corp. v. Alliance Resources Corp., 509 U.S. ___, 113 S.Ct. 2711, 125 L.Ed.2d 366 (1993). Thus, we hold that the trial court did not err in refusing to give an instruction requiring a proportionality between punitive damages and compensatory damages.