Court Opinion

ID: 9728457
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:08:23.383993+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:48.810624
License: Public Domain

BEACH, J.
I concur in the affirmance of the judgment, but I dissent from that part of the majority opinion reducing the award of punitive damages.
Our decision in Allard v. Church of Scientology (1976) 58 Cal.App.3d 439 [129 Cal.Rptr. 797] fully supports the majority view herein. But I am now convinced it was a mistake in Allard to have uncritically applied the rule and majority view of Cunningham v. Simpson (1969) 1 Cal.3d 301 [81 Cal.Rptr. 855, 461 P.2d 39], thus resulting in a reduction of the punitive damages in Allard. Unlike Dr. Frankenstein, we did not create a “monster.” Nonetheless by our Allard decision we helped nurture an improper and growing practice in the appellate courts to reduce punitive damages simply because of some sort of “disproportion.” While consistent with established case law, I believe the practice needs limiting if it is not in fact error.
The weakness in Allard and in the present majority opinion is its undue weight and emphasis on the presumption that just because an award of punitive damages is a certain percentage greater than actual damage it must have been a result of passion and prejudice. I think such a presumption is a non sequitur. In each case it is just as probable that the verdict was the result of fair, honest, cool and dispassionate deliberations of the jury concluding that it would take at least that much money to teach the defendant a lesson and to insure that it will not offend again.
In reducing a jury’s award of punitive damages, the court is in effect reweighing the evidence, which is a function of the jury and should be interfered with only upon a clear and convincing showing that the jury was driven by passion and prejudice. Interference with the jury’s award should not rest upon indulging in a presumption based merely on comparing punitive and compensatory damages nor merely upon an award which to the appellate court’s mind is “too much.” As Justice Mosk stated in his dissent in Cunningham v. Simpson, supra, 1 Cal.3d 301, 311-312: “Part of the damages awarded here were punitive. Again, the law on this subject is clear. ‘[The jury’s estimate] of what would be sufficient as a punishment and a deterrent and an example was very high as compared with the actual damages assessed and high from any point of view, but it would hardly be candid to invite them ... to fix such sum which expressed their judgment *1020in such matter, and then charge them with bias or perversity because the measure of their abhorrence of defendant’s conduct and their judgment of what would be a sufficient punishment and deterrent was represented by a larger sum of money than that which some other man or men would have allowed.’ (Di Giorgio Fruit Corp. v. AFL-CIO (1963) supra, 215 Cal.App.2d 560, 581, quoting Scott v. Times-Mirror Co. (1919) 181 Cal. 345, 367 [184 P. 672, 12 A.L.R. 1007].)”
Admittedly, some of the foregoing considerations apply equally to an award made or resulting from a reduction by a trial judge alone as well as to an award made by a jury. But it must be remembered that our inquiry at bench is not into the motives of the jury. Rather, our inquiry is whether the trial court erred in reducing the amount of punitive damages from that which the jury had fixed. The act of the trial court appears to have been an attempt to be moderate. Reducing an award of punitive damages from $1.3 million to $750,000 does not seem to me to be an act of passion or prejudice. In the absence of a showing by appellant that the reduction was the result of bias by the trial court, its determination must be upheld on appeal.
In assessing the correct amount of punitive damages, of equal importance as the majority’s view of proportionality based on comparison of compensatory damages are the facts considered and expressly relied on by the trial court at bench in reducing and fixing the amount of punitive damages in denying the motion for new trial. Among these are: “[t]he conduct of the defendant was highly reprehensible, . . . [was a] fabrication and reckless disregard; . . . [fjailure by top management to publish an adequate correction is substantial evidence of malice and bad faith; . . . defendant’s net worth amounted to approximately $2,600,000 and it had earnings of $1,300,000 after taxes for the last ten month period; ... the defendant has absolutely no remorse for its misdeeds; ... it is the policy of the National Enquirer to publish two or three unflattering articles about celebrities every week; . . . [t]he defendant engages in a form of legalized pandering designed to appeal to the readers’ morbid sense of curiousityf;] [t]his style of journalism has been enormously profitable to the defendant; . . . [a]n award of $1,300,000 will probably not amount to ‘capital punishment’ (bankruptcy), .. . because of the defendant’s strong cash position.”
The fact is that this is a publication read nationally by 16 million people. The potential for harm through a repetition of a libel by such an institution is tremendous. There are others to be protected from the harm. If the risk to an intentional wrongdoer that he will be adequately punished is slight, the defendant may well chance it again. It can in effect “write it off” as an expense or cost of doing business. Thus punitive damages need to be more than “an expense” item or “cost of doing business” which the defendant *1021can calculate and absorb. In a case such as this, reference to the ratio of compensatory to punitive damages, such as emphasized in the majority opinion, is neither helpful nor relevant. (Vossler v. Richards Manufacturing Co. (1983) 143 Cal.App.3d 952 [192 Cal.Rptr. 219].) Perhaps some cases lend themselves to comparison of various ratios. I think most do not. Ratio examination of the amount of compensatory damage to amount of punitive damage does not really tell us what is necessary to teach a defendant, such as the one at bench, not to abuse its privilege of the freedom of the press. On the other hand, considerations of punitive damage to defendant’s wealth may be more germane. As stated in Neal v. Farmers Ins. Exchange (1978) 21 Cal.3d 910, 928 [148 Cal.Rptr. 389, 582 P.2d 980]: “Also to be considered is the wealth of the particular defendant; obviously, the function of deterrence . . . will not be served if the wealth of the defendant allows him to absorb the award with little or no discomfort.” Yet to reduce the award from $750,000 to $150,000, as suggested by the majority in this case would do just that.
I would affirm the trial judge’s determination of the proper amount of punitive damages.
Petitions for a rehearing were denied August 11, 1983. Beach, J., was of the opinion that the respondent’s petition should be granted. The petitions of both parties for a hearing by the Supreme Court were denied October 6, 1983. Bird, C. J, was of the opinion that the respondent’s petition should be granted.