Court Opinion

ID: 9678092
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:10:35.168783+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:01.879450
License: Public Domain

VANCE, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the result only. The issue here is not whether the conduct of respondent would justify the award of some punitive damage against him but whether or not the amount actually awarded is excessive.
The jury is the arbiter of the amount to be allowed. The verdict of a properly instructed jury as to punitive damages should not be set aside unless it can be held that no reasonable juror, on the basis of the evidence presented, could have reached such a verdict, and therefore the verdict reached must necessarily have resulted from bias or passion on the part of the jurors.
I do not subscribe to the view that there is any meaningful difference in the standard of review of judgments for excessiveness which must be used by trial judges and appellate judges. Without question, the trial judge reviews the issue using the standard of whether or not reasonable jurors could have reached the verdict in the absence of bias.
It is true that an appellate court reviews the question of whether the trial judge abused his discretion in granting or denying a motion to set aside a verdict for excessiveness, but inevitably the issue is the verdict itself and whether reasonable jurors could have reached it. If reasonable jurors could not have reached such a verdict in the absence of bias, the trial judge must set it aside. If he refuses to do so, it is an abuse of discretion, and an appellate court will set the verdict aside.
If the trial court concludes the evidence was sufficient to warrant a reasonable jury to have reached its verdict, his conclusion is entitled to consideration and will not be set aside except for clear abuse of discretion. But ultimately, the appellate court must determine for itself the question of whether the award was reasonable or unreasonable, and if the award is such that no reasonable jury could have rendered it except for bias, it follows that a trial court which refused to set it aside abused its discretion.
I agree with the majority that under the evidence in this case and under the law as it currently exists, it was not clearly unreasonable for a jury to award punitive damages in the amount stated in the verdict.
STEPHENSON, J., joins in this concurring opinion.