51 N.C. App. 466 - Shugar v. Guill’s Empirical Analysis
1981
Citation profile
12 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 15 later decisions — most recently October 2015
12 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Sutton v. Duke · Stanback v. Stanback · Oestreicher v. American National Stores, Inc. · Newton v. Standard Fire Insurance · Hardy v. Toler
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Punitive damages, on the other hand, are not awarded as compensation, but they are awarded above and beyond actual damages in proper instances as punishment when it appears that the wrongful act was done maliciously, willfully, wantonly, or in reckless disregard of the plaintiffs rights. Hardy v. Toler, 288 N.C. 303 , 218 S.E.2d 342 (1975); Cavin’s Inc. v. Insurance Co., 27 N.C.App. 698 , 220 S.E.2d 403 (1975). Punitive damages arise out of the acts or intentions of the tort-feasor which contain any of the elements of aggravation. Punitive damages do not arise automatically from the commission of the tort, but rather they arise from one of the aggravating factors extraneous to the tort. If facts merely necessary to apprise the defendant of the wrongdoing with which the plaintiffs complaint charges him are all that are pleaded, this will not provide the defendant with the notice to which he is entitled to prepare a responsive pleading or prepare for trial on the issue of punitive damages. Defendant is entitled to some notice from plaintiffs complaint of the extraneous facts from which plaintiffs claim for punitive damages arise. Therefore, we think that under the present system of “notice pleading” plaintiff must do more than make the conclusory allegation that, “defendant, without just cause, did intentionally, willfully and maliciously assault and batter the plaintiff.” Plaintiff must allege some facts in his complaint tending to establish one or more of the aggravating fact”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“Even where sufficient facts are alleged to make out an identifiable tort, . . . , tortious conduct must be accompanied by or partake of some element of aggravation before punitive damages will be allowed. (Citations omitted.) Such aggravated conduct was early defined to include “fraud, malice, such a degree of negligence as indicates a reckless indifference to consequences, oppression, insult, rudeness, caprice, wilfullness . . . .” (Citation omitted.) The aggravated conduct which supports an award for punitive damages when an identifiable tort is alleged may be established by allegations of behavior extrinsic to the tort itself, as in slander cases. (Citations omitted.) Or it may be established by allegations sufficient to allege a tort where that tort, by its very nature, encompasses any of the elements of aggravation. Such a tort is fraud, since fraud is, itself, one of the elements of aggravation which will permit punitive damages to be awarded.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“Punitive damages are recoverable only in tort actions where there are allegations and proof of facts showing some aggravating factors surrounding the commission of the tort such as actual malice, oppression, gross and willful wrong, insult, indignity or a reckless or wanton disregard of plaintiff’s rights. In order for a plaintiff to collect punitive damages there must be some additional element of asocial behavior which goes beyond the facts necessary to create a simple case of tort.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.