Court Opinion

ID: 9934729
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-09 18:54:33.8191+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:26:35.900801
License: Public Domain

I agree that the defendants' application for rehearing should be overruled. I am writing specially to point out that punitive damages in a wrongful death case, such as the case here, are different in nature from punitive damages in any other type of tort action in Alabama. The defendants' constitutional arguments concerning this punitive damages award must be considered in a different light than constitutional challenges to punitive damages awards in other tort actions, because in Alabama, only punitive damages are recoverable in a wrongful death action. See my opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part in Alabama Power Co. v. Cantrell, 507 So.2d 1295, 1306
(Ala. 1986), appeal dismissed, ___ U.S. ___, 108 S.Ct. 2008,100 L.Ed.2d 596 (1988).
HOUSTON, J., concurs.