Court Opinion

ID: 9673957
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:21:10.589669+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:24.994396
License: Public Domain

CRAMER, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion herein. “The infliction of punishment in civil litigation prosecuted by private parties by the assessment of punitive damages is an anomaly in the common law and is totally unknown to the Roman and Civil Law. Such damages are not recoverable as a matter of right, the granting or denial thereof being wholly subject to the discretion of the jury. With respect to amount, the standard is generally said to be that the -award must be adequate to punish the defendant for his reprehensible conduct. In addition, the requirement has been adopted by some courts that the amount of punitive damages awarded must bear some reasonable relation to the amount of actual damages. * * 22 Texas Law Review 235, and cases there cited.
The above common law rule has been, as provided by Art. 1, V.A.C.S., changed in real estate transactions. Art. 4004, V.A. C.S., provides as follows: “Actionable fraud in this State with regard to transactions in real estate or in stock in corporations or joint stock companies shall consist of either a false representation of a past or existing material fact, or false promise to do some act in the future which is made as a material inducement to another party to enter into a contract and but for which promise said party would not have entered into said contract. Whenever a promise thus made -has not been complied with by the party making it within a reasonable time, it shall be presumed that it was falsely and fraudulently made, and the burden shall be on the party making it to show that it was made in good faith but was prevented from complying, therewith by the act of God, the public enemy or by some equitable reason. All persons guilty of such fraud shall be liable to the person defrauded for all actual damages suffered, the rule of damages being the difference between the value of the property as represented or as it would have been worth had the promise been fulfilled, and the actual value of the property in the condition it is delivered at the time of the contract. All persons making the false representations or promises and all persons deriving the benefit of said fraud, shall be jointly and severally liable in actual damages, and in addition thereto, all persons wilfully making such false representations or promises or knowingly taking advantage of said fraud shall be liable in exemplary damages to the person defrauded in such amount as shall be assessed by the jury, not to exceed double the amount of the actual damages suffered.”
In my opinion, this statute applies to the present case; in fact, is exclusive in all real estate transactions.
It takes the question of reasonableness of exemplary damages out of a jury verdict where the amount found 'by the jury does not exceed- double the amount of the actual damages. If the amount found by the jury is within the range of the statute, it is not, and cannot be excessive; if more than double the actual damage is assessed, by force of the statute it is excessive to that extent.
Applying the statute to this case, the amount of exemplary damages allowed Ted C. O’Connor against L. W. Klindworth of $5,000 is ten times the $500 actual damages found by the jury and allowed in the judgment. By force of the statute, Art. 4004, supra, it is therefore excessive in the sum of $4,000.
For that reason the judgment below should have been reformed so as to eliminate the excessive damages.