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Flint Construction Co. v. Hall12/30/2004
" from which the jury could have concluded that punitive damages were warranted. Hall contends that in the absence of evidence that a punitive-damages award was excessive or palpably wrong, it should be upheld, relying upon Gold Kist, Inc. v. Hood, 773 So. 2d 1031, 1036 (Ala. Civ. App. 1999) ("' judgment based on a jury verdict awarding punitive damages will be affirmed, in the absence of evidence that the verdict was "plainly and palpably wrong and unjust."' Lozier Corp. v. Gray, 624 So. 2d 1034, 1037 (Ala. 1993), citing King Motor Co. v. Wilson, 612 So. 2d 1153, 1156 (Ala. 1992).").
This Court reviews an award of punitive damages de novo. Acceptance Ins. Co. v. Brown, 832 So. 2d 1 (Ala. 2001). See also Cooper Indus., Inc. v. Leatherman Tool Group, Inc., 532 U.S. 424 (2001). Retaliatory discharge has been condemned by the Legislature. The statutory scheme of allowing an employee to recover damages from an employer who discharges him solely because he filed a workers' compensation claim does not contemplate a negligent retaliatory discharge--it deals exclusively with an intentional tort. The jury in this case found that Flint violated Alabama's public policy against discharging employees who seek benefits pursuant to Alabama's Workers' Compensation Act. Nevertheless, whether to award punitive damages was discretionary with the jury, and it chose to award them. Accepting Hall's view of the evidence, as we are required to do when reviewing a jury verdict at the request of the movant, Waddell & Reed, Inc., supra, Flint's conduct is sufficiently reprehensible to support an award of punitive damages. As to the question whether that award is excessive, we have previously held that a single-digit multiplier of punitive damages to compensatory damages is constitutionally permitted in most instances. Orkin Exterminating Co. v. Jeter, 832 So. 2d 25 (Ala. 2001). Here, where the jury awarded $200,000 in punitive damages and $400,000 in compensatory damages, a ratio of 0.5:1, we conclude that the jury's punitive-damages award is not excessive. Therefore, we affirm the judgment insofar as it awards $200,000 in punitive damages.
Flint also argues that the award of punitive damages is due to be reversed on the authority of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408 (2003), which Flint, in its brief, says stands for the proposition that "the courts of one State are without power to punish a defendant for conduct which occurs in other States, particularly where, as here, the conduct complained of is not illegal in the state in which it is committed." We do not address this argument because, as we have previously discussed, by having agreed and represented to the trial court that it was "subject to the provisions of the [Workers'] Compensation Act of Alabama, as amended," in providing benefits to Hall, Flint is estopped from claiming that its retaliatory discharge of Hall was not illegal in Alabama because the conduct was not illegal under Georgia law. See Ex parte First Alabama Bank, supra, 883 So. 2d at 1244-45, embracing New Hampshire v. Maine, 532 U.S. 742 (2001), which held:
" or judicial estoppel to apply (1) 'a party's later position must be "clearly inconsistent" with its earlier position'; (2) the party must have been successful in the prior proceeding so that 'judicial acceptance of an inconsistent position in a later proceeding would create "the perception that either the first or second court was misled"' (quoting Edwards v. Aetna Life Ins. Co., 690 F.2d 595, 599 (6th Cir. 1982)); and (3) the party seeking to assert an inconsistent position must 'derive an unfair advantage or impose an unfair detriment on the opposing party if not estopped.'"
532 U
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