Court Opinion

ID: 9608786
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:17:32.573644+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:09:02.787244
License: Public Domain

Judge GREENE
dissenting.
I agree with the majority opinion except for the part affirming the amount awarded as punitive damages after vacating the award of compensatory damages.
The amount awarded as punitive damages is a matter left to the sound discretion of the finder of fact. Tripp v. American Tobacco Co., 193 N.C. 614, 618, 137 S.E. 871, 873 (1927). This discretion, however, is not without limits. This Court, and our Supreme Court, have noted certain factors which are to be considered in assessing the appropriate award of punitive damages. For example, the amount awarded “may not be excessively disproportionate to the circumstances of contumely and indignity present in each particular case.” Id. The outrageous nature of the defendant’s conduct is also a key consideration. Cavin’s Inc. v. Atlantic Mutual Ins. Co., 27 N.C. App. 698, 702, 220 S.E.2d 403, 406 (1975). Furthermore, although punitive damages are not measured by the extent of injury to the plaintiff, Cavin’s at 702, 220 S.E.2d at 406, and although an award of punitive damages far in excess of actual damages may be sustained, actual damages to the plaintiff is a proper factor to be considered by the finders of fact in determining the amount of punitive damages. See 25 C.J.S. Damages § 126(1) p. 1164 (1966) (“[c]onsideration should be given to the actual damages. . . .”). Furthermore, this Court has observed the substantial likelihood that the amount of compensatory damages is taken into considera*747tion by the finder of fact when determining punitive damages. See Shaver v. Monroe Construction Co., 63 N.C. App. 605, 617, 306 S.E.2d 519, 527 (1983), disc. rev. denied, 310 N.C. 154, 311 S.E.2d 294 (1984) (where plaintiff established entitlement to punitive damages, but court erred in instruction on compensatory damages, new trial was required on issue of punitive damages because “there is a substantial likelihood that the two issues [compensatory and punitive damages] were so intertwined in the minds of the jurors that it would result in an injustice to remand this case for a new trial on one issue only”) (quoting Carawan v. Tate, 53 N.C. App. 161, 167, 280 S.E.2d 528, 532 (1981), modified and aff'd, 304 N.C. 696, 286 S.E.2d 99 (1982)).
The United States Supreme Court recently acknowledged the relevance of the compensatory damages award to the punitive damages award. Pacific Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, — U.S. —, 113 L.Ed.2d 1 (1991). In holding that the punitive damages award at issue was constitutional, the Court observed the fact that all punitive damages awards in Alabama are subject to post-verdict review by the Alabama Supreme Court, thus ensuring “that punitive damages awards are not grossly out of proportion to the severity of the offense and have some understandable relationship to compensatory damages.” Id. at —, 113 L.Ed.2d at 22.
This interrelationship between compensatory and punitive damages therefore requires that if the compensatory damages award is vacated and remanded, the punitive damages award must also be vacated and remanded. Accordingly, in this case the award of punitive damages must be vacated, and the amount of punitive damages must be readdressed after the new compensatory damages award is set.