Court Opinion

ID: 9776172
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:21:22.027637+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:08:59.457474
License: Public Domain

LAMBERT, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
With regard to the majority’s conclusion that there was not sufficient evidence as a matter of law for an award of punitive damages, I respectfully disagree. The jury awarded the plaintiffs $450,000 in punitive damages. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that there was insufficient evidence against WKG, and that the trial court should have granted a directed verdict for WKG on the punitive damages claim.
The general rule is that an appellate court should not disturb a jury verdict and substitute its judgment without some legally compelling reason. Kroger Co. v. Willgruber, Ky., 920 S.W.2d 61 (1996). As propounded in Horton v. Union Light, Heat & Power Co., Ky., 690 S.W.2d 382 (1985), in negligence cases, the jury verdict resolves any conflict in the testimony and any reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom must be allowed in favor of the prevailing party. An appellate court must not substitute its findings of fact for those of the jury if there is evidence to support those findings.
Evidence was presented at trial from which the jury could believe, and clearly did believe as shown by its verdict, that the gas pipeline was damaged and ineffectively repaired to such an extent that WKG should have known that an explosion was reasonably foreseeable. Testimony was offered that a WKG representative was the only person who attempted to tape or otherwise repair the subject pipe during the 1978 water main project; that the pipe had been damaged and ineffectively repaired, and that the pipe was dented to such an extent that it should have been replaced rather than repaired. Testimony was offered that a damaged pipe nearby had been replaced in 1981 but the pipe at issue here, also experiencing leaks caused by corrosion, had not been replaced. The jury heard testimony that major damage had oc*583curred to the subject pipe during a 1992 sewer project, at which time the pipe was exposed to dynamite blasting, and that this damage had been repaired by WKG.
Residents in the area claimed to have reported to WKG the smell of gas approximately six months before the explosions and then again several days immediately preceding the explosions. WKG allegedly investigated the odor and pronounced all to be well. Evidence was heard that holes had been drilled along the gas line in front of the destroyed homes, possibly to allow gas from corrosion leaks to escape into the atmosphere until the gas line could be repaired. Of course, snow and ice on the ground prevented the escape of leaking gas, not an unforeseeable circumstance in Bowling Green in January.
In my view, the foregoing evidence was sufficient to submit the issue of punitive damages to the jury. Even under the standard in KRS 411.184(2), applicable until it was declared unconstitutional by this Court in Williams v. Wilson, Ky., 972 S.W.2d 260 (1998), malice may be inferred when there appears to have been outrageous conduct or flagrant indifference to the rights of others. I believe the required standard was met in this case. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
WINTERSHEIMER, J., joins this dissenting opinion.