Court Opinion

ID: 9565786
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:27:47.203668+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:53.326679
License: Public Domain

Clarke, Presiding Justice,
dissenting.
I concur in the holding of the majority in its affirmance in case number 44925 concerning indemnification and with that part of the majority’s holding in case number 44926 relating to actual damages and consequential damages. However, I respectfully dissent to the holding of the plurality of the court and to Justice Weltner’s concurring opinion in case number 44926 as it relates to punitive damages. In my opinion, the award of punitive damages by the jury in this case is authorized by law.
In its appeal of the punitive damage award, Colonial contends *124the punitive damage statute is unconstitutional, that punitive damages are not authorized in cases of passive negligence and that the award in this case is excessive. Neither the plurality opinion nor the concurring opinion reached all of these issues because they found the case to turn on the issue of excessiveness. Because I believe the verdict is authorized by law, I will undertake to discuss each of Colonial’s contentions.
(a) Colonial contends the punitive damage statute violates due process because of vagueness and indefiniteness in its notice to potential defendants and lack of guidelines for the jury in awarding damages. The Georgia statute is brief and forthright. It provides, “In a tort action in which there are aggravating circumstances, in either the act or the intention, the jury may give additional damages to deter the wrongdoer from repeating the trespass or as compensation for wounded feelings of the plaintiff.” OCGA § 51-12-5. We have held, “[a] civil statute will withstand an attack of vagueness or indefiniteness if it provides fair notice to those to whom the statute is directed and enables one to determine from the provisions of the Act what the legislative intent was in enacting the Act.” Bryan v. Ga. Public Service Comm., 238 Ga. 572, 574 (234 SE2d 784) (1977). By this standard, the statute withstands Colonial’s attack. The statute extends fair notice to all those who commit aggravated torts that they stand in danger of the assessment of additional damages. I would not find the legislative intent in the enactment of this statute beyond the understanding of persons of common intelligence.
(b) Colonial also contends OCGA § 51-12-5 violates the constitutional assurance of equal protection, and equal protection analysis requires strict scrutiny of a legislative classification only when the classification interferes with a fundamental right or operates to the peculiar disadvantage of a suspect class. A suspect class is one which has been “ ‘saddled with such disabilities, or subjected to such a history of purposeful unequal treatment, or relegated to such a position of political powerlessness as to command extraordinary protection from the majoritarian political process.’ ” Massachusetts Bd. of Retirement v. Murgia, 427 U. S. 307, 313 (96 SC 2562, 2567, 49 LE2d 520) (1976). Colonial does not belong to a suspect class and none of Colonial’s fundamental rights has been violated. Applying a less strict standard to Colonial as a non-member of a suspect class, no equal protection violation occurred.
(c) As I understand the plurality opinion, it predicates the reversal of the punitive damage award primarily on the excessive fines clause of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and of Art. I, Sec. I, Par. XVII of the 1983 Georgia Constitution. The opinion applies this clause to civil actions. I do not agree with this interpretation of the constitutional provision and I believe this places *125me in the company of courts who have made earlier visits to these issues. In my view, Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U. S. 651 (97 SC 1401, 51 LE2d 711) (1977), was simple and direct in its holding that the Eighth Amendment does not apply to civil cases. Logic supports this position. The Eighth Amendment exists as a protection of citizens against the acts of the national government and not acts of other citizens. The protection of the Eighth Amendment was broadened by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution when it extended the protection to acts of the states. United States v. Kaiser, 545 F2d 467 (5th Cir. 1977). It is difficult to believe that the plurality chooses to apply the Eighth Amendment to controversies between private parties. Furthermore, it has been held that the conviction of a crime must occur before a party becomes entitled to the protection of the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Hill v. State, 119 Ga. App. 612 (168 SE2d 327) (1969).
(d) Colonial characterizes its negligence as passive and argues that punitive damages are not allowed for nonperformance of a duty to keep premises in repair. Kaplan v. Sanders, 237 Ga. 132 (227 SE2d 38) (1976). The plurality opinion without explanation refers to the negligence in this case as passive and itemizes this as a reason for finding the award excessive. I cannot agree for two reasons. First, the question of passiveness does not relate to the extent of the award, but only to its justification. Second, the record convinces me that the jury was authorized to find something more than passive negligence. Inflammable gas is an inherently dangerous substance, Community Gas Co. v. Williams, 87 Ga. App. 68, 78 (73 SE2d 119) (1952), and due care must be exercised to prevent gas escaping where it might become ignited and cause a damaging explosion. Bray v. Atlanta Gas Light Co., 46 Ga. App. 629 (168 SE 96) (1933). By coupling the above statements with the evidence in this case, I come to the conclusion that the jury was authorized to find the negligence to be more than passive. The negotiating process leading to the execution and delivery of the easement made Colonial aware of the plans to grade and develop the land in question. Nevertheless, Colonial proceeded to install the pipeline at a depth more than 30 inches shallower than the parties had apparently agreed to be safe. Additionally, Colonial stood in violation of federal regulations for its failure to adequately mark the location of the pipeline and to conduct overflights. The jury generally has the right to determine questions of negligence and its determination will not be disturbed upon review except in plain and undisputable cases. Bussey v. Dawson, 224 Ga. 191 (160 SE2d 834) (1968). I do not believe this is one of those cases.
(e) There remains the question of whether punitive damages in this case are excessive as a matter of law. Five million dollars is a large sum of money. It far exceeds the limitations ($250,000.00) *126placed by the legislature upon awards for punitive damages in causes of actions arising on or after July 1, 1987. OCGA § 51-12-5.1. But the legislature specifically established an effective date for that statute. This then binds us to the law as it existed prior to July 1, 1987. “The question of damages is one for the jury; and the court should not interfere with the jury’s discretion unless the damages are either so small or so excessive as to justify the inference of gross mistake or undue bias.” OCGA § 51-12-12. We have held that the amount required to deter future acts depends on the facts of a particular case as determined by the enlightened conscience of an impartial jury. Smith v. Milikin, 247 Ga. 369 (276 SE2d 35) (1981). OCGA § 51-12-5, the law dealing with causes of action arising before July 1, 1987, does not authorize our disturbance of the jury verdict in this case.
The plurality opinion attempts to tie the size of a verdict for punitive damages to the compensable injury suffered by the plaintiff. This is a mistaken effort. Compensatory damages and punitive damages have different purposes and stand on different feet. The law authorizes compensatory damages in an attempt to make a damaged party whole. The law authorizes punitive damages to protect all members of the public from a recurrence of the act committed by the defendant. In allowing punitive damages, the law looks not so much to a result of the act as to its egregiousness. The record in this case contains a photograph of the fire erupting from the ruptured pipeline. This photograph demonstrates the enormity of the dangers posed in an incident of this sort. It is indeed fortunate that the rupture and resulting explosion and fire occurred in an open field, but it could have just as well occurred in some other location involving numbers of people. It is against this possibility that punitive damages are imposed as a protecting shield for the public.
I am authorized to state that Justice Gregory and Justice Hunt join in this dissent.
On Motion for Reconsideration.
The law of Georgia is that punitive damages are for the purpose of deterring the wrongdoer. Thus, to some degree, it is analogous to a criminal case. In criminal cases there must be a rational relationship between the offense and punishment. For example, one convicted of a misdemeanor would not be sentenced to life imprisonment.
It would be the better practice for the court to instruct the jury to set out the ground or grounds upon which they base their finding that punitive damages should be awarded. The court could easily prepare an interrogatory-type judgment whereby the jury could check off which one or more of the grounds as set out in Southern R. Co. v. O’Bryan, 119 Ga. 147 (45 SE 1000) (1903), the defendant was guilty *127of violating whereby it called for assessing punitive damages against him. After determining which ground or grounds the defendant violated, then following the three criteria set out in the reversing paragraph above, they could arrive at the amount of punitive damages, if any, to be assessed.
Decided March 17, 1988
Reconsideration denied March 30, 1988.
Landau, Davis & Farkas, James V. Davis, Neely & Player, Edgar A. Neely III, Ross Arnold, Harold N. Hill, Jr., for appellant.
Mark A. Gonnerman, Hilliard P. Burt, John F. Salter, for appellees.
Spearman, Dunham & Gaugher, William L. Spearman, amicus curiae.