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Payne v. Wallace8/14/2001
e intersection where the accident occurred. Diana testified that on the night of the accident, Stacie cried out in her sleep several times, and when Diana twice went into Stacie's room to investigate, she found Stacie tossing, yelling and crying in her sleep. There was no evidence that Stacie's sleep problem continued beyond that first night, and the only evidence of any continuing emotional reaction was testimony that she has an aversion to traveling through the intersection. This evidence is insufficient to demonstrate the severe emotional suffering that is required to support a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
We are not unmindful of Stacie's tender age at the time of the incident. A child victim's age and attendant vulnerability are factors to be considered in determining whether a defendant's conduct was sufficiently outrageous or reckless to give rise to liability, and a child may suffer severe anguish from conduct that would not be likely to cause such reactions in an adult. However, the victim's age does not lessen the requirement that her actual distress be severe. In the case before us, the district court correctly granted Wallace's motion for a directed verdict on the claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress because the evidence does not show that Wallace's distasteful behavior caused severe emotional distress to Stacie.
B. Punitive Damages
By terms of Idaho Code § 6-1604(2), a party may present a request for punitive damages only with leave of the trial court. The court must allow an amendment of the pleadings to state a prayer for punitive damages "if the moving party establishes . . . a reasonable likelihood of proving facts at trial sufficient to support an award of punitive damages." I.C. § 6-1604(2). The Paynes contend that the egregiousness of Wallace's behavior was sufficient to warrant presenting a punitive damages claim to the jury and that the district court therefore erred in denying the Paynes' motion to present such a claim.
An award of punitive damages is permissible only where the defendant's conduct was "oppressive, fraudulent, wanton, malicious or outrageous." I.C. § 6-1604. In Cheney v. Palos Verdes Inv. Corp., 104 Idaho 897, 665 P.2d 661 (1983), the Idaho Supreme Court described the circumstances necessary to justify punitive damages:
An award of punitive damages will be sustained on appeal only when it is shown that the defendant acted in a manner that was "an extreme deviation from reasonable standards of conduct, and that the act was performed by the defendant with an understanding of or disregard for its likely consequences." The justification for punitive damages must be that the defendant acted with an extremely harmful state of mind, whether that be termed "malice, oppression, fraud or gross negligence"; "malice, oppression, wantonness"; or simply "deliberate or willful." Id. at 905, 665 P.2d at 669 (citations omitted).
Our Supreme Court has cautioned that "punitive damages are not favored in the law and should be awarded only in the most unusual and compelling circumstances, and are to be awarded cautiously and within narrow limits." Walston v. Monumental Life Ins. Co., 129 Idaho 211, 221, 923 P.2d 456, 466 (1996) (quoting Manning v. Twin Falls Clinic & Hosp., 122 Idaho 47, 52, 830 P.2d 1185, 1190 (1992)). The decision whether to allow the jury to consider punitive damages rests in the discretion of the trial court. Weaver v. Stafford, 134 Idaho 691, 700, 8 P.3d 1234, 1243 (2000); Curtis, 123 Idaho at 604, 850 P.2d at 755. On appellate review of the trial court's decision, we examine whether the record contains substantial evidence to support such an award. Studen
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