Maisenbacker v. Society Concordia

42 A. 67, 71 Conn. 369, 1899 Conn. LEXIS 5
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedJanuary 4, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by104 cases

This text of 42 A. 67 (Maisenbacker v. Society Concordia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maisenbacker v. Society Concordia, 42 A. 67, 71 Conn. 369, 1899 Conn. LEXIS 5 (Colo. 1899).

Opinion

Halx, J.

The complaint alleges in substance that the plaintiff, having contracted with and paid the defendant for the privilege of dancing at a certain ball, was, by the forcible [376]*376acts of the defendant’s agents, prevented from exercising her said right, and was thereby caused pain and damage.

The trial court correctly charged the jury that the complaint described two causes of action: one for personal injury, and the other for a breach of contract. Under the averments of the complaint the plaintiff would have been entitled to a verdict upon proof either that she was forcibly prevented from dancing, as alleged, or that the defendant’s agents, without using force, unlawfully deprived her of the privilege which was granted to her by her contract with the defendant.

We have no occasion to decide whether these two. causes ■ of action should have been stated in separate counts. Several causes of action may be stated in a single count, when such causes of action are not separate and distinct from each other; that is, separable from each other “by some distinct line of demarcation.” Craft Refrigerating Machine Co. v. Quinnipiac Brewing Co., 63 Conn. 551, 563. The defendant, not having demurred to the complaint, has waived the question whether the two causes of action were improperly joined in one count. Practice Book, p. 17, Rule IV. § 13.

Apparently no question was made at the trial but that under the pleadings the plaintiff, upon proof that the defendant’s agent forcibly prevented her from dancing, became entitled to a verdict for a sum sufficient to indemnify her for the actual injuries she sustained, and which.were the direct and natural consequences of the wrongful act complained of. The complaint alleges that in consequence of the assault the plaintiff was deprived of the privileges of the ball, that she suffered physical and mental pain and anguish, and lost her earnings in the trade at which she had been employed. The court instructed the jury that in determining the amount of compensatory damages to be awarded the plaintiff, they might take into consideration the indignity she had suffered by an assault in so public a place, the mental as well as her physical suffering which it caused her, and such loss as had been proved she had thereby sustained from inability to work at her trade.

“All the attending acts and circumstances which accom[377]*377pany and give character to the assault may be given in evidence to enhance the damages.” Brzezinski v. Tierney, 60 Conn. 55, 62. Mental as well as physical suffering, when properly alleged, may be proved as an element of actual damage, and as naturally and directly resulting from an assault of the character described in the complaint. Gibney v. Lewis, 68 Conn. 392, 396; Seger v. Barkhamsted, 22 id. *290, *298; Masters v. Warren, 27 id. *293, 299. The defendant has no cause to complain of the charge of the court with reference to the elements which go to make up compensatory damages.

The complaint alleges that the defendant’s agent in committing the assault, “ addressed the plaintiff in loud, threatening and insulting language,” and that the assault upon the plaintiff was' “ committed in a gross, wanton and reckless manner and with intent to ” injure the plaintiff.

The defendant, in effect, requested the court to charge the jury that the defendant society could not, upon the proof presented, be held liable in exemplary damages. The court did not comply with this request, but instructed the jury that in case they found that a battery had been inflicted upon the plaintiff by the defendant’s agent, “wantonly, maliciously, or in wanton disregard of the plaintiff’s rights,” they might add to that sum which they should find sufficient to compensate the plaintiff for her injuries, “ a sum as exemplary or punitive damages,” and might award her as punitive damages such sum as the jury, from their “knowledge of the course of business in the courts of law in this State,” should find “ to be her expenses in conducting this trial,” less the taxable costs which she would recover.

The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff for $300. We have not the evidence in the case before us; but from the finding of facts and from the charge of the court, stating the claims of the parties as to the character and extent of the plaintiff’s injuries, we think the jury may, under such instruction have included in their verdict, as an element of damages, the expenses incurred by the plaintiff in conducting her trial, less the taxable costs; and unless this is a case in which such expenses could lawfully be recovered, the [378]*378charge of the court was incorrect and a new trial should be granted.

That a plaintiff may, in an action for an assault and battery and in certain other actions of tort, recover certain damages which are not compensatory within the technical and legal meaning of that word, but which are awarded with the view of punishing the defendant for his wrongful act, has been settled in this State, beyond question, by a large number of decisions extending from Linsley v. Bushnell, 15 Conn. *225, to Gibney v. Lewis, 68 id. 392.

The cases in which punitive damages may be awarded are only those actions of tort “ founded on the malicious or wanton misconduct of the defendant,” or upon “ such culpable neglect of the defendant ” as is “ tantamount to malicious or wanton misconduct.” St. Peter's Church v. Beach, 26 Conn. *355; Welch v. Durand, 36 id. 182; Burr v. Plymouth, 48 id. 460. And private corporations, as well as individuals, may for their own acts become liable in punitive damages. Sedgwick on Damages (8th ed.), §379; Merrils v. Tariff Mfg. Co., 10 Conn. 384; Murphy v. New York & N. H. R. Co., 29 id, 496.

The expenses of litigation are not an element of the damages termed in law actual or compensatory damages; “ they are not the natural and proximate consequence of the wrongful act,” and they can only be considered by the jury in those cases in which exemplary damages may be awarded. St. Peter's Church v. Beach, supra; Platt v. Brown, 30 Conn. 336; Mason v. Hawes, 52 id. 12; Gibney v. Lewis, supra. Such expenses in excess of taxable costs, in cases in which they may be considered, limit the amount of punitive damages which can be awarded. Wilson v. Granby, 47 Conn. 59; Burr v. Plymouth, supra. In cases where they may be considered it is not usual to prove the expenses of litigation actually incurred, but the court may admit relevant evidence for that purpose. Bennett v. Gibbons, 55 Conn. 450.

The case before us, as shown by the record, is not one in which the defendant society could be held liable in punitive damages. The defendant is a corporation. The alleged as[379]*379sault was committed by a floor manager “ appointed by tbe defendant to have the regulation and charge of tbe dancing ” at a ball given by tbe defendant.

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Bluebook (online)
42 A. 67, 71 Conn. 369, 1899 Conn. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maisenbacker-v-society-concordia-conn-1899.