Court Opinion

ID: 9880421
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-27 19:14:24.49293+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:12.782946
License: Public Domain

WIGGINS, Justice
(concurring specially)-
I write to concur specially. I agree with the well-reasoned dissent. If we were to develop the common law further in this area, I might overrule our prior precedents for the reasons stated in the dissent and allow the court to award punitive damages awarded against the estate of a deceased tortfeasor. However, when the legislature jumped into the arena of punitive damages in 1986, it left most of our common law rules regarding punitive damages intact. In this instance, the legislature’s inaction as to these common law rules tips the scales not to overturn a precedent in existence when the legislature passed Iowa Code chapter 668A (2009). Accordingly, I am unable to join the dissent.
APPEL, J., joins this special concurrence.