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Komornik v. Sparks8/26/1993
enobia reaffirmed a passage in Davis v. Gordon that had rejected the implied malice standard there advocated because it would not further either the punishment or deterrence objectives of punitive damages. Zenobia, 325 Md. at 456, 601 A.2d at 650. Davis v. Gordon had said:
"We have many rules of the road, all designed and intended to promote the public safety. They have severe penalties for their violation whether there is an accident or not. If all drivers and all pedestrians observed these rules there would not be any accidents. The rules of the road are far more effective than any inflammatory verdicts in making our streets and highways safe for travel. The fear of arrest is more of a deterrent than a verdict in a civil case for damages."
183 Md. at 133, 36 A.2d at 701. In the half century since Davis v. Gordon was decided, there have been added to the criminally enforced rules of the road the administrative sanctions imposed by the Motor Vehicle Administration for the suspension or revocation of the motor vehicle operators' licenses of drinking drivers. See TR ยงยง 16-205 through 16-205.2.
For all the foregoing reasons, the circuit court correctly applied Zenobia in ruling that Komornik had not proffered a case for punitive damages.
JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE COUNTY AFFIRMED. COSTS TO BE PAID BY THE APPELLANT.
Concurring opinion by McAuliffe, J.
McAuliffe, J., concurring.
I concur in the result. I disagree with the Court's conclusion that nothing short of actual malice will support an award of punitive damages in a negligence action. I adhere to the view I expressed in my concurring opinion in Owens-Illinois v. Zenobia, 325 Md. 420, 476-78, 601 A.2d 633 (1992), that outrageous conduct sufficient to support a conviction for second degree murder under the "depraved heart" theory should be treated as the legal equivalent of actual malice, and should be sufficient to permit consideration of an award of punitive damages.
In Conklin v. Schillinger, 255 Md. 50, 71, 257 A.2d 187 (1969), this Court said:
The difficulty in the Maryland cases arises in regard to factual situations in which there is no evidence of actual intent to injure or of actual malice toward the injured person, but in which the defendant's conduct is of such an extraordinary character as possibly to be the legal equivalent of such actual intent or actual malice . . . . (Emphasis in original.)
Unfortunately, the Conklin Court went on to describe the legal equivalent of actual malice in the overly broad terms "'wanton,' 'reckless disregard of the rights of others,' and the like." Id. Building upon these terms, the Court ultimately held that a showing of gross negligence would be sufficient to generate the issue of punitive damages. See Smith v. Gray Concrete Pipe Co., 267 Md. 149, 297 A.2d 721 (1972); Nast v. Lockett, 312 Md. 343, 539 A.2d 1113 (1988). In Zenobia, we overruled Smith and Nast, finding that the test had been "overbroad in its application and had resulted in inconsistent jury verdicts involving similar facts." 325 Md. at 459-60.
A retreat from the test of gross negligence does not mean that we must adhere only to the test of actual malice. The Court so held in Zenobia, when it adopted a test for punitive damages in a products liability case that it termed the "equivale
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