Court Opinion

ID: 9845644
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:25:37.824565+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:16.991590
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE KEENAN,
with whom JUSTICE HASSELL joins, dissenting.
I believe that reasonable persons could disagree whether Dickens’s conduct was so willful or wanton that it showed a conscious disregard for the rights of others. Therefore, I would hold that the question of punitive damages was a matter for a jury’s consideration and that the trial court erred in concluding otherwise. See Huffman v. Love, 245 Va. 311, 427 S.E.2d 357 (1993) (this day decided).
Since I disagree with the majority on the above issue, I would not reach the subsequent issue regarding compensatory damages.