Court Opinion

ID: 9689435
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:31:37.016289+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:50:05.056022
License: Public Domain

PETERSON, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that punitive damages may be recovered for deliberate conversion of property even though the plaintiff suffered no personal injury. In Independent School District No. 622 v. Keene Corp., 511 N.W.2d 728, 732 (Minn.1994), the supreme court specifically rejected the argument that the policy of prohibiting recovery of punitive damages unless the plaintiff suffers personal injury applies only to strict products liability actions. The supreme court said:
Keene next challenges the award of punitive damages to the school district. In Eisert v. Greenberg Roofing & Sheet Metal Co., 314 N.W.2d 226, 228 (Minn.1982), we held that punitive damages could not be recovered in a strict products liability action where the plaintiff only suffers property damage. Keene argues that the policy concerns underlying Eisert apply in this case, and therefore the school district’s recovery of punitive damages should be barred.
The school district argues that Eisert only applies to strict liability claims, and, therefore does not apply to this case because the school district, brought claims *432under liability theories beyond strict products liability. We do not find this to be a sufficient distinguishing factor to limit the application of our reasoning in Eisert. As in Eisert, the school district here only suffered property damage. The remedy of punitive damages concerns the “vital state interest of protecting persons against personal injury.” Gryc v. Dayton-Hudson Corp., 297 N.W.2d 727 (Minn.), cert. denied sub. nom. Riegel Textile Corp. v. Gryc, 449 U.S. 921, 101 S.Ct. 320, 66 L.Ed.2d 149 (1980). We believe now as we did in Ei-sert that denying punitive damages where a plaintiff only suffers property damage reflects the greater importance society places on protecting people. We reverse the award of punitive damages in its entirety.

Id.

Quoting from the syllabus of the supreme court’s opinion in Keene, the majority states that Keene stands for the proposition that “[ajbsent personal injury, a party injured by a product may not recover punitive damages.” Id. at 728. The majority interprets this statement to mean that a plaintiff who suffers no personal injury is prohibited from recovering punitive damages only when the plaintiff is injured by a product. Although this is a plausible interpretation of the syllabus language, it is equally plausible that, in the syllabus, the supreme court intended to do no more than simply apply to the case before it, which involved an injury caused by a product, a general rule that punitive damages cannot be recovered absent personal injury.
The body of the supreme court’s opinion in Keene indicates that a plaintiff’s right to recover punitive damages absent personal injury is not affected by the plaintiffs theory of liability. Id. at 732. If the theory of liability does not affect the right to recover punitive damages, I see no reason why the fact that a plaintiff is injured by a product, rather than in some other manner, should affect the right to recover punitive damages. Punitive damages are intended to punish particularly egregious conduct of the defendant. Rosenbloom v. Flygare, 501 N.W.2d 597, 602 (Minn.1993). There is no apparent reason why particularly egregious conduct involving a product should lead to any less serious consequences than egregious conduct that does not involve a product.
Furthermore, in Eisert, the supreme court stated:
Although the nature of the plaintiff’s injury is not always listed as a factor in determining how to assess punitive damages, it may reasonably be taken into account in deciding where punitive damages will be allowed. Where that injury is limited to property damage, the public interest in punishment and deterrence is largely satisfied by the plaintiff’s recovery of compensatory damages.
314 N.W.2d at 228 (emphasis added) (citations omitted).
The emphasized language demonstrates that the rule established by the supreme court in Eisert is based upon the type of injury suffered by the plaintiff and does not depend upon the cause of the plaintiff’s injury. The nature of the injury, not the cause of the injury, determines whether punitive damages are allowed.
Finally, the supreme court’s holding in Phelps v. Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co., 537 N.W.2d 271, 276-77 (Minn.1995), is not inconsistent with a rule that punitive damages may not be recovered absent personal injury. In Phelps, the plaintiff recovered $75,000 for mental anguish and suffering. Id. at 273. Mental suffering is a personal injury. See generally Michael K. Steenson, The Anatomy of Emotional Distress Claims in Minnesota, 19 Wm. Mitchell L.Rev. 1 (1993)(noting it is well-settled that damages for personal injury include a mental suffering component and discussing other causes of action where damages for mental suffering alone are recoverable).