Court Opinion

ID: 9668435
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:13:35.869391+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:45.465143
License: Public Domain

LANSING, Judge
(dissenting).
The majority holds that punitive damages cannot be recovered on claims for damage to property in Minnesota. I agree that the supreme court’s opinion in Independent School Dist. No. 622 v. Keene Corp., 511 N.W.2d 728 (Minn.1994), can be broadly read to support this holding, but I don’t think that this reading is the logical interpretation. Taken in context, I read the opinion as only limiting punitive damages for product-related damages.
First, the four sentences of the Keene analysis relied on by the majority must be read in light of the syllabus that states “[a]b-sent personal injury, a party injured by a product may not recover punitive damages.” Id. (emphasis added). In Minnesota, the syllabus is provided by the court and should be considered in interpreting the text. See Winter Wolff & Co. v. Co-op Lead & Chem. Co., 261 Minn. 199, 206, 111 N.W.2d 461, 466 (1961) (author of Minnesota Supreme Court opinion also writes syllabus).
Second, Keene does not address or analyze the statute which specifically allows punitive *482damages when clear and convincing evidence exists of willful indifference to the “rights or safety of others.” Minn.Stat. § 549.20, subd. 1 (1992). By including in its operative provisions rights as well as safety, the statute embraces both property damage and personal injury. No part of the statute excludes punitive damages on property claims.
Although an argument could be made that the supreme court has the power to limit a judicially-created remedy, I think such a limitation would require an analysis of the statute, particularly since the elimination of an entire category of punitive damages would be a restriction of common law remedies available at the time the statute codified punitive damages. Lewis v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc’y, 389 N.W.2d 876, 891-92 (Minn.1986); Minnesota-Iowa Television Co. v. Watonwan T.V. Improvement Ass’n, 294 N.W.2d 297, 310-11 (Minn.1980).
Third, Keene does not analyze or refer to the substantial line of Minnesota authority allowing punitive damages for intentional property damage. See, e.g., Wilson v. City of Eagan, 297 N.W.2d 146, 150 (Minn.1980); Huebsch v. Larson, 291 Minn. 361, 364, 191 N.W.2d 433, 435 (1971); Hendrickson v. Grengs, 237 Minn. 196, 205, 54 N.W.2d 105, 110 (1952). Although there is a history of Minnesota case law limiting punitive damages for property damage in product cases, see Eisert v. Greenberg Roofing & Sheet Metal Co., 314 N.W.2d 226, 229-30 (Minn.1982), that limitation has not been applied to non-product eases. The product-related limitation on punitive damages is consistent with developments in other states. See Michael Rustad, In Defense of Punitive Damages in Products Liability: Testing Tort Anecdotes with Empirical Data, 78 Iowa L.Rev. 1, 6-7 (1992). Those states that have developed more general limitations on punitive damages have not created a division based solely on whether the injury is to person or property. Id. at 7-9.
Finally, creating a distinction that is based solely on whether the injury is to person or property is inconsistent with the philosophy of punitive damages as it has evolved in Minnesota. The two primary purposes of punitive damages are “to punish defendants in appropriate cases and to set an example which will deter others from similar conduct.” Gary J. Haugen & Howard B. Tar-kow, Punitive Damages in Minnesota: The Common Law and Developments Under Section 519.20 of the Minnesota Statutes, 11 Wm. Mitchell L.Rev. 353, 356 (1985). Generally, courts award punitive damages based on a party’s conduct rather than the consequences of its conduct. Id. at 358. To rest the availability of punitive damages solely on the type of injury contradicts the underlying philosophy because it focuses on the consequences of the actions rather than on the actual conduct. Williams Pipe Line Co. v. City of Mounds View, 704 F.Supp. 914, 921 (D.Minn.1989).
For these reasons, I dissent from that part of the opinion that interprets the Keene case as eliminating punitive damages on all property damage claims. I believe that Keene should be read to prohibit punitive damages only when a party suffers product-related property damage. Keene extends previous holdings by applying the prohibition to more than a strict liability tort action but still limits the prohibition to product-related property damage. If the supreme court intends to announce a broad rule that would prohibit punitive damages for all property damage claims, I believe that it would say so in a more explicit and definite manner.