Court Opinion

ID: 9544420
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:55:32.832973+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:12:56.900312
License: Public Domain

DEL SOLE, Judge,
dissenting:
While I join in the Dissenting Opinion of my colleague, Judge Olszewski, I write separately to take issue with the Majority’s analysis of the punitive damage question.
*331The Majority, in reviewing the history of the relationship between punitive and compensatory damages in Pennsylvania, is correct in pointing out that early Supreme Court decisions required such a relationship. Further, the Majority is correct in pointing out that the concept of no need for a relationship between actual and compensatory damages is set forth in Restatement (Second) of Torts § 908(2). There, as my colleague, Judge Olszewski clearly states, punitive damages are awarded for conduct and harm, and no relationship between compensatory and actual damages is required.
Where the Majority goes astray in its analysis is in relying upon the plurality opinion of Mr. Justice Hutchinson in Martin v. Johns-Manville Corp., 508 Pa. 154, 494 A.2d 1088 (1985), an opinion that obviously was not joined in by a majority of the members of the court. The error in this analysis is particularly evident in light of Feld v. Merriam, 506 Pa. 383, 485 A.2d 742 (1984), where Mr. Justice McDermott writing for a unanimous Supreme Court stated as follows:
This Court has embraced the guidelines of § 908(2) of the Restatement (Second) of Torts regarding the imposition of punitive damages:
‘Punitive damages may be awarded for conduct that is outrageous, because of the defendant’s evil motive or his reckless indifference to the rights of others.’ See Chambers v. Montgomery, 411 Pa. 339, 192 A.2d 355 (1963). Punitive damages must be based on conduct which is ‘ “malicious”, “wanton”, “reckless”, “willful”, or “oppressive”,____’ Further, one must look to ‘the act itself together with all circumstances including the motive of the wrongdoers and the relations between the parties ____’
Id., 506 Pa. at 395, 485 A.2d at 747-748.
Thus, it is readily apparent that the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania adopted Restatement (Second) of Torts § 908(2) to govern the issue of punitive damages. The reliance upon dicta in Mr. Justice Hutchinson’s Opinion in *332Martin, (joined by one other Justice) is reading too much into the decision of that case. All other Justices that voted in the Martin case concurred in the result. The result was an affirmance of the trial court’s decision refusing to submit to the jury the issue of punitive damages on the basis that there was insufficient evidence to establish the type of conduct necessary to allow that issue to go to the jury. The Opinion stands for nothing more.
When one views Martin, in light of Feld, one must clearly recognize that the Restatement section controls and that pursuant to the comments thereto, as pointed out by my colleague, Judge Olszewski, the charge given by the trial court in this case was clearly proper.
The question then becomes whether or not the punitive damage award rendered by the jury is based upon the type of conduct which permits such an award and whether or not the amount awarded bears a relationship to the conduct of the defendant which the award is seeking to prevent, and the harm (not damages) suffered by the plaintiff. When viewed in this light, it is apparent that the punitive damage award in this case was proper and not excessive and should, therefore, be affirmed.