Lovejoy Specialty Hospital, Inc. v. Advocates for Life, Inc.

855 P.2d 159, 121 Or. App. 160, 1993 Ore. App. LEXIS 1056
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJune 16, 1993
DocketA8907-03773; CA A69120
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 855 P.2d 159 (Lovejoy Specialty Hospital, Inc. v. Advocates for Life, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lovejoy Specialty Hospital, Inc. v. Advocates for Life, Inc., 855 P.2d 159, 121 Or. App. 160, 1993 Ore. App. LEXIS 1056 (Or. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinions

[163]*163RIGGS, J.

Defendants appeal a judgment that awarded plaintiff compensatory and punitive damages, and also attorney fees. Three of the defendants, who defaulted, appeal the denial of their motion to set aside a separate judgment under ORCP 71. We reverse and remand the award of attorney fees, and otherwise affirm.

Defendants are 27 individuals and a non-profit corporation who oppose abortion. Beginning in 1984, some defendants began picketing plaintiff, a clinic that provides medical services, including abortion. In 1986, defendants began blocking plaintiffs doors and trespassing on the parking lot and private property surrounding plaintiffs building. Property damage, lost business and incidents of pushing and other physical contact accompanied the protests.

Plaintiff brought an action for injunctive relief, trespass and nuisance, seeking punitive damages of $250,000 on each of the trespass and nuisance claims, compensatory damages of $6,160.43 for property damage and additional security expenses, and nominal damages for trespass and nuisance. The court entered a preliminary injunction enjoining defendants from entering plaintiffs property, demonstrating within a specified “keep-clear” area or blocking plaintiffs doors. Eighteen defendants violated the injunction and were found in contempt. A trial on plaintiffs claims followed.

The court directed a verdict for plaintiff on the trespass and nuisance claims. That verdict is not challenged on appeal. The jury found that 21 of the defendants were each liable for a total of $1 in nominal damages and $200,000 in punitive damages on each of the nuisance and trespass claims. The remaining four defendants who appeared were each found liable for $4,485.43 in nuisance damages, $1 in nominal damages for trespass and a total of $500,000 in punitive damages on the nuisance and trespass claims. A judgment for $504,486.43 was entered against three defendants who defaulted. Citing ORS 20.105, the trial court entered judgment for plaintiffs entire litigation expense against the 18 defendants who had violated the injunction.

Defendants who appeared make five assignments of error. They first assign error to the denial of their “motion for [164]*164a directed verdict seeking the withdrawal of plaintiffs claims for punitive damages.” Although defendants characterize that motion as a motion for a directed verdict, it was actually a motion to withdraw punitive damages from the jury’s consideration, and we treat it as such. In a related assignment, they argue that the trial court erred when it gave a jury instruction on punitive damages. Defendants do not object to the wording of the instruction, but rather that a punitive damage instruction was given at all. In a third and also related assignment of error, defendants argue that the trial court erred by refusing their requested instruction that punitive damages could only be awarded for conduct that is not intended to be expressive.

All three assignments are premised on the argument that Article I, section 8, of the Oregon Constitution and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibit an award of punitive damages for tortious, but expressive, activity. Because they are related, we combine these three assignments for purposes of analysis. We review the trial court’s rulings for errors of law.

Article I, section 8, of the Oregon Constitution prohibits assessment of punitive damages for torts resulting from an abuse of speech. Lewis v. Oregon Beauty Supply Co., 302 Or 616, 733 P2d 430 (1987). Defendants assume, without explanation, that nuisance and trespass are “expressive activities” entitled to the same protection as speech. Even if we agree that some of defendants’ conduct was expressive, that conduct is not necessarily protected. Under Huffman and Wright Logging v. Wade, 109 Or App 37, 42, 817 P2d 1334 (1991), rev allowed 312 Or 676 (1992), a trespass claim can support punitive damages if the claim focuses on harm stemming from a physical trespass, and not on the content of the speech or expressive conduct that accompanied it. In this case, the court properly instructed the jury that

“[t]he defendants have a constitutional right to oppose abortion and to try and convince others to oppose abortion and to persuade women not to have abortions. This also includes the right to picket and to demonstrate on public property in a peaceful, non-violent manner.”

Plaintiffs claim for punitive damages was not based on the content of defendant’s speech or expressive conduct, but was based on harm caused by physical acts. Under Huffman, [165]*165those physical acts do not merit Article I, section 8 protection simply because they are accompanied by speech or expressive conduct.

Defendants attempt to distinguish Huffman on the ground that the defendants in that case did not request a jury instruction limiting the jury’s consideration of punitive damages to non-expressive conduct. The failure of the defendants in Huffman to request that instruction meant that we could not consider whether the jury considered the content of the defendant’s speech when it assessed punitive damages. The defendants in Huffman also failed to segregate the expressive and non-expressive aspects of their speech, making review of the punitive damages for infringement of their Article I, section 8 rights difficult.

Defendants in this case did not properly request an instruction limiting the jury’s consideration of punitive damages to the non-expressive aspects of their conduct. Defendants’ requested instruction included a statement that “punitive damages may only be awarded against a defendant for conduct which is not intended to communicate.” This is an incorrect statement of the law. As we held in Huffman, communicative conduct can support punitive damages if those damages are assessed against the non-protected tor-tious aspect of the conduct and not against its expressive aspect. 109 Or App at 42. As was the case in Huffman, defendants failed to segregate the expressive and the non-expressive aspects of their conduct.

On the basis of Huffman, we conclude that neither the denial of the motion to withdraw, nor the jury instruction on punitive damages nor the refusal to give defendants’ requested jury instruction violated Article I, section 8.

Defendants next argue that the First Amendment prohibits the imposition of punitive damages for expressive conduct. Conduct has sufficient expressive elements to implicate the First Amendment if there is an intent to convey a particularized message and the likelihood is great that the message will be understood by those who view it. Texas v. Johnson, 491 US 397, 404, 109 S Ct 2533, 105 L Ed 2d 342 (1989). Although defendants do not isolate which of their [166]*166activities were expressive, we assume for the sake of argument that some of their conduct was expressive under Johnson.

The government has a freer hand in restricting expressive conduct than it has in restricting speech. Texas v. Johnson, supra, 491 US at 406. Where expressive and non-expressive elements are combined in the same course of conduct, the conduct can be regulated if a sufficiently important governmental interest justifies an incidental limitation on First Amendment freedoms.

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Lovejoy Specialty Hospital, Inc. v. Advocates for Life, Inc.
855 P.2d 159 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1993)

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Bluebook (online)
855 P.2d 159, 121 Or. App. 160, 1993 Ore. App. LEXIS 1056, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lovejoy-specialty-hospital-inc-v-advocates-for-life-inc-orctapp-1993.