Court Opinion

ID: 9543424
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:45:31.229813+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:10:20.084438
License: Public Domain

McAULIFFE, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result. I disagree with the Court’s conclusion that nothing short of actual malice will support an award of punitive damages in a negligence action. I adhere to the view I expressed in my concurring opinion in Owens-Illinois v. Zenobia, 325 Md. 420, 476-78, 601 A.2d 633 (1992), that outrageous conduct sufficient to support a conviction for second degree murder under the “depraved heart” theory should be treated as the legal equivalent of actual malice, and should be sufficient to permit consideration of an award of punitive damages.
In Conklin v. Schillinger, 255 Md. 50, 71, 257 A.2d 187 (1969), this Court said:
The difficulty in the Maryland cases arises in regard to factual situations in which there is no evidence of actual intent to injure or of actual malice toward the injured person, but in which the defendant’s conduct is of such an extraordinary character as possibly to be the legal equivalent of such actual intent or actual malice.... (Emphasis in original.)
Unfortunately, the Conklin Court went on to describe the legal equivalent of actual malice in the overly broad terms “ ‘wanton,’ ‘reckless disregard of the rights of others,’ and the like.” Id. Building upon these terms, the Court ultimately held that a showing of gross negligence would be sufficient to generate the issue of punitive damages. See Smith v. Gray Concrete Pipe Co., 267 Md. 149, 297 A.2d 721 (1972); Nast v. Lockett, 312 Md. 343, 539 A.2d 1113 (1988). In Zenobia, we overruled Smith and Nast, finding that the test had been *732“overbroad in- its application and ha[d] resulted in inconsistent jury verdicts involving similar facts.” 325 Md. at 459-60, 601 A.2d 633.
A retreat from the test of gross negligence does not mean that we must .adhere only to the test of actual malice. The Court so held in Zenobia, when it adopted a test for punitive damages in a products liability case that it termed the “equivalent” of actual malice. We should do likewise in motor-tort cases, adopting as the test the criminal analogue of conduct sufficient to support a finding of murder in the second degree if death had resulted. I find it baffling that boardroom conduct can be punished by punitive damages but barroom conduct cannot.
To repeat what I said in Zenobia, 325 Md. at 477-78, 601 A.2d 633, I would apply the following test in non-intentional tort cases:
A person who is actually aware that his action involves a clear and serious danger of substantial harm to the plaintiff or anyone in the plaintiffs class, and who unreasonably takes such action with flagrant indifference as to whether anyone will be harmed or not, should be liable for punitive damages if his conduct causes the foreseeable harm. This type of outrageous conduct, being just short of intentional harm, warrants such a sanction. Although the requisite conduct and state of mind will often include gross negligence, the test would not be met by a showing of gross negligence alone.
Because the conduct described in the case before us does not meet this test, I agree that the judgment below should be affirmed.
Concurring Opinion by CHASANOW, J.