Court Opinion

ID: 9771772
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:53:00.106907+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:36.486941
License: Public Domain

SPEARS, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I concur in part and dissent in part. While I agree with the majority’s holding affirming Caille’s actual damage award, I would hold that she cannot recover punitive damages.
At common law the doctrine of employment-at-will prevented an employee who was discharged in retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim from having a cause of action. The legislature adopted article 8307c § 1 as a statutory exception to employment-at-will; it prohibits the employer from firing the employee “because the employee has in good faith filed a claim ... under the Texas Workmen’s Compensation Act.” Section 2 of article 8307c pro*670vides: “A person who violates any provision of Section 1 of this Act shall be liable for reasonable damages suffered by an employee as a result of the violation.” (emphasis added).
The issue in this cause is whether exemplary damages may be awarded under article 8307c § 2.1 If a disputed statute is clear and unambiguous, extrinsic aids and rules of statutory construction are inappropriate and the statutory language should be given its common, everyday meaning and enforced accordingly. Cail v. Service Motors, Inc., 660 S.W.2d 814, 815 (Tex.1983).
Exemplary damages are not included within the plain meaning of the statutory language “reasonable damages suffered by an employee.” (emphasis added). “Suffered” means experienced, endured, felt, undergone, or sustained. Consolidated Underwriters v. Foxworth, 196 S.W.2d 87, 94 (Tex.Civ.App.—Beaumont 1946, no writ); WEBSTERS THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 2284 (1981). Exemplary damages are not compensation for damages “suffered” by a plaintiff; rather, they “are intended to punish the defendant and to set an example to others. ... They are assessed over and above the amount of damages necessary to indemnify the plaintiff.” Cavnar v. Quality Control Parking Inc., 696 S.W.2d 549, 556 (Tex.1985). The majority ignores this time-honored distinction.
North Carolina has a retaliatory discharge statute, N.C.Gen.Stat. § 97-6.1 (1979), which is patterned after article 8307c. In Buie v. Daniel International Corp., 56 N.C.App. 445, 289 S.E.2d 118, cert. denied 305 N.C. 759, 292 S.E.2d 574 (1982), the North Carolina court of appeals was confronted with the identical question presented in this cause. The court held:
[T]he wording of the statute clearly limits recovery to damages “suffered by the employee” as a result of the employers violation of the Workers’ Compensation Act. ... Punitive damages by their very nature are not damages “suffered” by anyone. Rather, they are damages awarded to punish a wrongdoer, over and above the amount required to compensate for the injury. Whether, as the plaintiff argues, the purpose of the Workers’ Compensation Act would be better served by the threat of punitive damages for its violation is not for this Court to decide. We are bound by the wording of G.S. 97-6.1, and any amendment thereto is within the realm of the legislature.
Id. 289 S.E.2d at 119.
The majority relies on Webb v. Dayton Tire & Rubber Co., 697 P.2d 519, 522-23 (Okla.1985) to support its holding. Webb is clearly distinguishable from the present case because the Webb court relied on Okla.Stat. tit. 23 § 9 (1981) in holding that the words “reasonable damages” included punitive damages. That statute provides:
Any action for breach of an obligation not arising on contract, where the defendant has been guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice, actual or presumed, the jury in addition to actual damages, may give damages for the sake of example and by way of punishing the defendant.
The court concluded that in the absence of a clear expression of contrary legislative intent, title 23 § 9 controls and authorizes punitive damages. Id. at 525 (Opala, J., concurring). The “suffered” argument, relied on by the court in Buie, was not discussed in Webb. Texas has no statute similar to Oklahoma’s title 23 § 9, thus the Webb case is not on point.
In those Texas statutes creating a cause of action for retaliatory discharge, the legislature has specifically provided for the recovery of exemplary damages. Article 6252-16a § 2 prohibits a state or local government from suspending or terminating the employment of a public employee because he made a good faith report of a violation of law. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6252-16a § 2 (Vernon Supp.1987). Section 4 of that statute states:
*671(a) A public employee who sues under this Act may recover:
(1) actual damages;
(2) exemplary damages;
(3) costs of court; and
(4) attorneys fees.
The legislature’s failure to use similar language in article 8307c clearly indicates that exemplary damages were not intended to be recoverable under the statute. See Sayre v. Mullins, 681 S.W.2d 25, 27 (Tex.1984).
This court is not responsible for omissions in legislation. Seay v. Hall, 677 S.W.2d 19, 25 (Tex.1984). We have the power to interpret and determine the constitutionality of a statute; however, “it would be a usurpation of our powers to add language to a law where the legislature has refrained.” Id. The majority opinion violates these valid maxims by disregarding the plain meaning of the statute and rewriting the statute to further some vague disingenuous public policy goals. The legislature expressly limited worker’s compensation retaliatory discharge damages to those “suffered” by the employee. Exemplary damages are not “suffered” by a plaintiff and thus should not be recoverable in suits brought under article 8307c. Accordingly, I dissent from that portion of the opinion affirming the award of punitive damages.
-HILL, C.J., and CAMPBELL, J., join in this concurring and dissenting opinion.

. This is an issue of first impression in this court. We were unable to consider it in Carnation Co. v. Borner, 610 S.W.2d 450, 454-55 (Tex.1981) because the issue was not properly preserved for review.