Court Opinion

ID: 9682847
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:18:30.84472+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:42.594655
License: Public Domain

Robert L. Jones, Jr., Special Justice, dissenting. This is an action for conversion of personal property. The appellee left his automobile with appellant for repairs while he was out of the state for approximately six weeks. A rental agreement was introduced in evidence which appellee testified that he signed in blank with the understanding that the form was necessary only for the purpose of waiving liability insurance on the substitute automobile. When the appellee returned the substitute automobile to get possession of his automobile, he was told that he could not have his automobile until he paid the rental due on the substitute automobile. He denied that any rental was due. Appellee filed suit for conversion and appellant counterclaimed for the rental alleged to be due. The jury resolved the issue in favor of the appellee and awarded him $6,337.33 compensatory damages and $25,000.00 punitive damages. I would affirm as to the compensatory damages and reverse as to the punitive damages. Ark. Code Ann. § 18-45-201 (1987) provides for a possessory lien by automobile repairmen for parts and labor for the repair of an automobile. The repairs effected on appellee’s automobile were covered under a manufacturer’s warranty; therefore, there was no amount due for the repairs which would give rise to a possessory lien. There is no possessory lien provided under Arkansas law for unpaid rental on a substitute automobile; therefore, appellant had no right to retain possession of appellee’s automobile and became liable for conversion. The award of the fair market value of the property at the time of the conversion is the proper measure of compensatory damages. The instruction given by the trial court on punitive damages was as follows: “In addition to compensatory damages for any actual loss that Richard Randall Keck may have sustained, he asks for punitive damages from Walt Bennett Ford, Inc. Punitive damages may be imposed to punish a wrongdoer and to deter others from similar conduct. In order to recover punitive damages from Walt Bennett Ford, Richard Randall Keck has the burden of proving that Walt Bennett Ford intentionally pursued a course of conduct for the purpose of causing damage. You are not required to assess punitive damages against Walt Bennett Ford, Inc. but you may do so if justified by the evidence.” (Emphasis added.) AMI 2217 provides two alternative standards of conduct which may justify an award of punitive damages. The first standard is that the defendent knew or ought to have known in the light of the surrounding circumstances that his conduct would naturally and probably result in damage and that he continued such conduct with malice or in reckless disregard of the consequences from which malice may be inferred. The second standard is that the defendant intentionally pursued a course of conduct for the purpose of causing damage. The conduct in question was the retention of possession of appellee’s automobile by the appellant. The undisputed evidence is that the appellant retained possession of the appellee’s automobile for the purpose of collecting rental which it claimed to be due from appellee for a substitute automobile. There was no evidence presented that the appellant knew that it had no right to retain possession of appellee’s automobile for that purpose. There was no evidence of any motive for the appellant to want to cause damage to the appellee. Its only motive was to collect the rental charge it believed to be due, and it may have believed it had a legal right to retain possession of appellee’s automobile until it was paid. The effect of the holding of the majority is that a person who withholds possession of another’s property without legal right to do so, even though he may honestly and in good faith believe that he has a legal right to do so, may nevertheless be punished by an award against him for punitive damages. This is contrary to the holding of this Court in the case of Satterfield v. Rebsamen Ford, Inc., 253 Ark. 181, 485 S.W.2d 192 (1972). In order for punitive damages to be proper, the person against whom they are awarded must be guilty of malice or act in such a willful, wanton or reckless disregard of consequences from which malice may be inferred. (Satterfield, supra, at page 185) In this case, the jury was instructed that Keck had the burden of proving that Walt Bennett Ford withheld possession of Keck’s automobile “for the purpose of causing damage” (with malice). In my opinion, the evidence was insufficient to justify the submission of that issue to the jury. The burden of proof is on the plaintiff to prove malice, not on the defendant to prove lack of malice.