Court Opinion

ID: 9692111
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 15:42:13.511201+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:31.426832
License: Public Domain

POLLOCK, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Except for its holding that a public entity is subject to an award for punitive damages under the Law Against Discrimination (LAD), N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to -42, I join in the Court’s opinion. The Tort Claims Act (TCA) provides that “[n]o punitive or exemplary damages shall be awarded against a public entity.” N.J.S.A. 59:9-2. Nothing in the LAD expressly or impliedly repeals that provision. As the Court acknowledges, the LAD simply provides that “[a]ll remedies available in common law tort actions shall be available to prevailing plaintiffs.” N.J.S.A. 10:5-13. The absence of an exception for public entities suggests not that the Legislature intended that public entities would be subject to claims for punitive damages, but that the TCA, including its ban on punitive damage awards, would continue to apply to such entities.
Five years ago, in Abbamont v. Piscataway Board of Education, 138 N.J. 405, 435-36, 650 A.2d 958, I likewise dissented from the Court’s holding that under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA), N.J.S.A. 34:19-1 to -9, claimants are entitled to punitive damages. The authorization for the award of punitive damages under CEPA, which specifically authorize such damages, N.J.S.A. 34:19-5f, is even clearer than that in the LAD. Then, as now, I doubt that in either the CEPA or the LAD the Legislature intended to saddle taxpayers with the ultimate obligation for paying punitive damage awards. Also, I doubt that the Legislature intended in either statute to impose on rate payers, such as the people who ride the New Jersey Transit trains and buses, the ultimate cost of paying punitive damage awards. Such awards in CEPA and LAD cases can be substantial. Here, for *136example, plaintiff was awarded $1,000,000 in punitive damages. Another recent case, which involved the sexual harassment of one prison guard by another, resulted in the .award of $3,750,000 against the State, consisting of $750,000 for compensatory damages and $3,000,000 in punitive damages. Brian Donahue & Kathy Barrett Carter, $3.75M for Guard in No-sex Lawsuit, Star-Ledger, May 29, 1999. Such awards, which represent sums in addition to those needed to compensate claimants, can impose a heavy burden on the public.
As in Abbamont, “I believe that not permitting punitive damage awards against public employers is more consistent with the legislative intent. The best solution would be for the Legislature to revisit the issue and resolve it definitively.” 138 N.J. at 436, 650 A.2d 958. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent from that part of the Court’s opinion construing the LAD to subject New Jersey Transit to a claim of punitive damages.
Chief Justice PORITZ and Justice GARIBALDI join in this opinion.
For affirmance-justices HANDLER, O’HERN, STEIN and COLEMAN — 4.
For concurrance in part; dissenting in part — Chief Justice PORITZ, and Justices POLLOCK and GARIBALDI — 3.