Court Opinion

ID: 9755238
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:31:14.013097+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:05.584947
License: Public Domain

GILBERT, Chief Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the decision of the majority, as expressed by Judge Karwacki. I do so, however, with great reluctance.
What the Court holds today virtually eliminates punitive damages in suits against professionals for malpractice absent a showing of actual malice. This is true because almost all claims grounded in negligence against professionals arise out of a contractual relation, express or implied.
Why negligence arising out of a contract is so sacrosanct that the negligent party is insulated against punitive damages eludes me. Nevertheless, the Court of Appeals, starting with H & R Block, Inc. v. Testerman, 275 Md. 36, 338 A.2d 48 (1975), followed by Wedeman v. City Chevrolet Co., 278 Md. 524, 366 A.2d 7 (1976), and then General Motors Corp. v. Piskor, 281 Md. 627, 381 A.2d 16 (1977), has articulated that there can be no recovery of punitive damages in tort actions, in the absence of actual malice, if the action arose out of a contract.
So long as Testerman, Wedeman, and Piskor remain the law of Maryland, this Court, of course, is obligated to adhere to their holdings.
*78It is, in my opinion, a strange doctrine that precludes recovery of punitive damages for negligence arising out of contract unless actual malice is proven, irrespective of the degree of negligence involved.
Testerman, the first of the trilogy of cases to announce the ban on punitive damages in torts arising out of contracts, was decided in 1975. Insofar as we have been able to determine, not one other State has chosen to adopt the reasoning of Testerman or its siblings. No other jurisdiction has opted to march to the Testerman drum beat, dance to Wedeman’s tune, or vocalize Piskor lyrics.
Fourteen years have passed since Testerman was decided. Perhaps, in light of the fact that its doctrine seems to have been implicitly rejected by the other forty-nine States and the District of Columbia, the Court should reexamine its position.