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Iadanza v. Harper4/19/2005
terclaim defendant Anthony Iadanza was not properly made a party to this action. As we are upholding the trial court's dismissal of defendant's counterclaims, we have no occasion to rule on this issue.
Plaintiff also argues that the trial court erred by not dismissing defendant's "counterclaim" for punitive damages. We agree. "As a general rule, ' unitive damages do not and cannot exist as an independent cause of action, but are mere incidents of the cause of action[.] . . . If the injured party has no cause of action independent of a supposed right to recover punitive damages, then he has no cause of action at all.' North Carolina follows this general rule of law." Hawkins, 101 N.C. App. at 532, 400 S.E.2d at 474 (quoting J. Stein, Damages and Recovery ยง 195 at 389 (1972)). In the instant case, the trial court properly dismissed defendant's counterclaims. Accordingly, defendant has no basis on which to claim punitive damages. We conclude the trial court's order should be reversed and remanded for dismissal of defendant's "counterclaim" for punitive damages.
We conclude the trial court erred by granting partial summary judgment in favor of defendants on the issue of compensatorydamages; that the trial court did not err by dismissing defendant's counterclaims; and that the trial court erred by not dismissing defendant's claim for punitive damages. Accordingly, the trial court's order is
Affirmed in part, and reversed and remanded in part.
Judges TIMMONS-GOODSON and HUDSON concur.
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