Court Opinion

ID: 9488243
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:40:01.935456+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:46.611143
License: Public Domain

WALTER, District Judge,
dissents.
Plaintiff alleged only $45,000 in compensatory damages. If he failed to plead facts sufficient to show a legal basis for punitive damages, the dismissal for lack of jurisdiction stands. Cadek argues that he pled sufficient facts to show that defendant had engaged in fraud by misrepresentation, thus entitling him to punitive damages.
Wisconsin law recognizes fraud by misrepresentation as a ground for punitive damages. Jeffers v. Nysse, 98 Wis.2d 543, 297 N.W.2d 495, 499 (1980). Thus the initial question is whether Cadek plead facts sufficient to demonstrate fraud by misrepresentation. Given the standard for review of a motion to dismiss, our question becomes whether it is clear beyond a legal certainty “that plaintiff would under no circumstances be entitled to recover the jurisdictional amount”. Risse v. Woodard, 491 F.2d 1170, 1173 (7th Cir.1974).
The majority opinion views the pleadings as sufficient. The opinion argues that race tracks involve a high risk of fire and that any reasonable person viewing a fire truck stationed at a race track would assume it was operational. This may be true, but it does not rise to the level of fraudulent misrepresentation as defined by Wisconsin law.
Though no employee of the defendant voiced any representation to plaintiff regarding the fire truck, conduct alone may suffice as a representation. Goerke v. Vojvodich, 67 Wis.2d 102, 226 N.W.2d 211, 213 (1975). In Goerke, the Wisconsin Supreme Court stated three elements necessary for fraudulent misrepresentation: (1) a false representation, (2) made with the intent to defraud and for the purpose of inducing another to act upon it, and (3) that the other person must rely on it and be induced to act, to his injury or damage. Id. Even if this Court accepts plaintiffs argument that parking a fire truck on a raceway would lead anyone to believe the truck operated properly, that proves only the first element. It does not demonstrate any malice or intentional inducement on the part of the defendant. Nor does it demonstrate that Cadek so relied on the supposedly functional truck that it induced him to race there.
Other Wisconsin cases which found fraudulent misrepresentation involved much more devious behavior. In Lundin v. Shimanski, a prospective home buyer sought income producing property. 124 Wis.2d 175, 368 N.W.2d 676 (1985). Cognizant of this fact, the seller misrepresented the applicable zoning codes to induce the buyer to purchase the property. Id. In Jeffers v. Nysse, a prospective home buyer asked the seller what the heating expense would be. 98 Wis.2d 543, 297 N.W.2d 495 (1980). The seller misrepresented those costs in order to induce the buyer to purchase the home. Though both of these cases resulted in punitive damages, they involved much more egregious conduct. The raceway’s conduct simply did not rise to this level, nor has plaintiff produced any evidence that he relied on defendant’s conduct.
Plaintiff has not plead facts sufficient to entitle him to punitive damages via fraudulent misrepresentation. Thus plaintiff is not entitled to punitive damages, and cannot meet the amount in controversy requirement. The District Court’s dismissal should stand, however, because the trial court lacked juris*1215diction, its grant of summary judgment on the negligence claim should be reversed.
For these reasons, I respectfully dissent.