Court Opinion

ID: 9719021
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:40:52.966743+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:04.216731
License: Public Domain

RACANELLI, P. J.,
Concurring and Dissenting.—I concur in the majority opinion except as to that part concerning the implied waiver and rejection of the punitive damages award. As the majority correctly point out, defendant’s wilful breach of warranty in failing to repair or replace the defective mobile home justified imposition of a civil penalty not to exceed “two times the amount of actual damages. ...” (Civ. Code, § 1794, subd. (c).) The penalty assessed was, of course, well within allowable limits. However, the punitive damages award was based not on the same conduct evidencing wilful noncompliance but on the separate and distinct theory of fraudulent concealment of the unfavorable EAL report; and the jury so specially found. That special finding, adequately supported by the evidence, independently justified an award of punitive damages under Civil Code section 3294. Each award rests on a separate factual basis and legal theory involving more than a single kind of actionable conduct entitled to be redressed in damages. Indeed, the Legislature obviously recognized such possibility in expressly providing that the remedies under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act “are cumulative . . . [to] any remedy that is otherwise available, ...” (Civ. Code, § 1790.4.)
Thus, the jury acted well within its authority in awarding exemplary damages both to punish and to deter such egregious fraudulent conduct. The fact that the cumulative monetary remedies consist of punitive damages (which, in the aggregate, are less than the maximum allowable civil penalty *231under the Act) should not be perceived guilelessly as an impermissible forfeiture and resort to a fiction of waiver. There is simply no basis to warrant a determination of waiver in the conventional sense. (See generally City of Ukiah v. Fones (1966) 64 Cal.2d 104, 107-108 [48 Cal.Rptr. 865, 410 P.2d 369].) Indeed, waiver of any of the provisions of the Act dealing with consumer and mobilehome warranties is expressly prohibited as a matter of public policy. (See Civ. Code, §§ 1790.1, 1797.4.)
I would affirm the judgment in all respects offset by the $6,000 settlement received by plaintiff.
A petition for a rehearing was denied January 3, 1986.