The trial court refused to strike
the punitive damages allegations, but the Court of Appeal granted
Not exact matches
Adding
allegations of aggravated and
punitive damages did not amount to adding a new and distinct claim.
Ruling that
allegations of aggravated and
punitive damages are new and distinct claims would have placed insureds in a difficult position.
The court sensibly found that
allegations of aggravated and
punitive damages are not new and distinct claims.
To be heard by the jury, an
allegation for
punitive damages must contain a claim that the defendant «acted maliciously, willfully, recklessly, wantonly, fraudulently, or in bad faith.»
The taxation rules are constantly changing, and the nature of the
damages you recover may be taxable, especially if your claim includes
allegations of lost income or
punitive damages.
If the initial complaint or other earlier filings had contained a claim for
punitive damages, or even an
allegation that the defendants acted maliciously, willfully, recklessly, wantonly, fraudulently, or in bad faith, the Court would have likely allowed the
punitive damages issue to be heard by the jury, and the plaintiff may have received a larger award at the conclusion of the case.
In the case of Taylor v. Superior Court (1979) 24 Cal.3 d 890, 892, the test was articulated for a sufficient
allegation of malice in drunk driving cases so as to support a claim for
punitive damages.
Although an employer is unlikely to face liability simply because a sexual harassment investigation was clumsy or a subsequent trial found that the
allegation of sexual harassment was not substantiated, it may face significant liability in the form of
punitive and aggravated
damages if its investigation was inept or unfair.
It also found that
punitive damages have been awarded when the employer alleges serious misconduct and dismisses an employee for cause without conducting a reasonably fair and unbiased investigation into the
allegations.
In Morison v. Ergo - Industrial Seating Systems Inc., 2016 ONSC 6725, for example, the Superior Court awarded the Plaintiff $ 50,000 in
punitive damages after finding that the employer's
allegation that it terminated the Plaintiff's employment for cause lacked a reasonable basis and was done for purely tactical purposes.
The Court concluded «that they were concocted... after the fact» and that
punitive damages were therefore warranted because DMR «persisted in advancing serious personal
allegations of impropriety against the plaintiff without being able to maintain them and without having conducted a reasonably fair and unbiased investigation.»
Budge v. Dickie Moore Rental Inc is one of a number of recent cases standing for the proposition that employers may be liable for
punitive damages where they dismiss employees based on unfounded
allegations of cause.
Without a rational basis for such
allegations, they may be liable for substantial
punitive damages awards in addition to common law reasonable notice.
The Court noted that
punitive damages have been considered to be appropriate in circumstances where the employer fabricates
allegations of serious misconduct to support an employee's dismissal for cause and maintains the
allegations up to or during trial.
I previously wrote about the trial decision which saw the trial judge order Altus to pay $ 100,000 in
punitive damages because Altus had fabricated
allegations that it had cause to dismiss Gordon.
The RFP states that ICBC will require that lawyers retained to act as part of a legal team for ICBC decline to act against it in bringing actions which include
allegations of bad faith or claims for
punitive, aggravated or exemplary
damages.
The firm's Transportation Group has successfully defended cases involving claims for wrongful death, catastrophic injury and
punitive damages, as well as
allegations of negligent hiring, training and failure to comply with DOT regulations.
The defendant moved to strike the fraudulent conveyance
allegations and claims for
punitive damages from the Statement of Claim.
The Supreme Court of Montana has ruled that a broker who refuses to comply with discovery orders can be found liable by the court for the
allegations made in the complaint and can also be liable for
punitive damages.