Coty v. Ramsey Associates, Inc.

• Decision Date: 06 April 1990
• Docket Number: No. 88-346,88-346
• Citation: 573 A.2d 694,154 Vt. 168
• Parties: Victor and Mary COTY, Donald and Dorothy Nelson d/b/a Stowe Country Shop and Anton and Pamela Flory d/b/a Die Alpen Rose Motel v. RAMSEY ASSOCIATES, INC.; Normand Ramsey and Raymond Ramsey.
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Page 694

573 A.2d 694

154 Vt. 168

Victor and Mary COTY, Donald and Dorothy Nelson d/b/a Stowe Country Shop and Anton and Pamela Flory d/b/a Die Alpen Rose Motel v. RAMSEY ASSOCIATES, INC.; Normand Ramsey and Raymond Ramsey.

No. 88-346.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

April 6, 1990.

Harold B. Stevens, Stowe, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Robert D. Rachlin and Anita Tuttle of Downs, Rachlin & Martin, Burlington, and Peter L. Murray and Thomas C. Newman of Murray, Plumb & Murray, Portland, Maine, for defendants-appellees Ramsey Associates, Inc., and Normand Ramsey.

Before PECK, ¹ DOOLEY and MORSE, JJ., and BARNEY, C.J. (Ret.), and DIER, Superior Judge (Ret.), Specially Assigned.

DOOLEY, Justice.

This is the second appeal generated in the course of protracted litigation concerning the establishment of a deliberately offensive pig farm in Stowe. The relevant facts are detailed in Coty v. Ramsey Associates, Inc., 149 Vt. 451, 546 A.2d 196 (1988), in which we affirmed the trial court's ruling that the pig farm was a nuisance and upheld the court's award of compensatory damages. Nevertheless, we reversed in part because the $380,000 punitive damages award was assessed with respect to Raymond Ramsey as well as the other defendants. We concluded that the evidence did not support an award of punitive damages against Raymond Ramsey, and we remanded the case for reconsideration of those damages based on Normand Ramsey's financial status and culpability. Id. at 465-66, 546 A.2d at 206. We went on to hold, however, that the trial court's punitive damages awards were neither manifestly nor grossly excessive. Id. at 467, 546 A.2d at 206.

After the remand, the parties resubmitted the case based solely on the pre-existing record and a brief argument. Plaintiffs requested that the pre-appeal punitive damages award of $380,000 be reinstated in a judgment solely against Normand Ramsey and Ramsey Associates, Inc. Defendants urged that no punitive damages be awarded because defendants' activities were protected by the First Amendment and because the punitive damages award violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Defendants also urged the court to "[reappraise] the facts and circumstances" of the case and deny punitive damages based on that reappraisal. In response, the trial judge filed a minority opinion reaffirming the previous award of punitive damages, this time assessing that amount against Normand Ramsey and Ramsey Associates, Inc. The assistant judges disagreed, terming the award "excessive," and ordered punitive damages in the amount of $25,000 to each plaintiff. ² Plaintiffs appeal and we reverse. ³

Plaintiffs maintain, inter alia, that the trial court failed to comply with this Court's mandate on remand. Because we agree with this contention, we do not address their other arguments.

The lower court was acting pursuant to our mandate and thus was limited to following our specific directions as interpreted in light of the opinion. See Halpern v. Kantor, 139 Vt. 365, 367, 428 A.2d 1132, 1134 (1981). This rule must be viewed in the context of the doctrine of law of the case as applied to decisions of this Court:

"It is a rule of general application that a decision in a case ... of last resort is the law of that case on the points presented throughout all the subsequent proceedings therein, and no question then necessarily involved and decided will be reconsidered by the Court in the same case on a state of facts not different in legal effect." ... [T]he result [of reversing former decisions in the same case] would be mischievous because if all such questions are to be regarded as still open for discussion and revision in the same cause, there would be no end to the litigation until the ability of the parties or the ingenuity of their counsel were exhausted.

Perkins v. Vermont Hydro-Electric Corp., 106 Vt. 367, 415-16, 177 A. 631, 653 (1934) (quoting Barclay v. Wetmore & Morse Granite Co., 94 Vt. 227, 230, 110 A. 1, 2 (1920)). In Belock v. State Mutual Fire Insurance Co., 108 Vt. 252, 255, 185 A. 100, 101-02 (1936), the Court applied the principle to the refusal of the trial court to set aside a verdict as against the weight of the evidence, holding that the original decision could not be reexamined after a remand "unless the evidence at the retrial was materially different." Thus, the "law of the case" policy is also applicable to fact questions where there has been no new evidence. See 18 C. Wright, A. Miller & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 4478, at 799-800 (1981) (questions of fact "absent significant new evidence" are particularly unsuited for reconsideration following a remand).

It was clear from the evidence presented at the original trial that Raymond Ramsey was the least culpable and least wealthy of the defendants. ⁴ The remand was made necessary solely because of the removal of Raymond Ramsey as a punitive damages defendant. Once he was removed as a limiting factor, any adjustment in the assessment--which was to have been made with respect to the facts as found by the trial court--would necessarily have been an increase.

The downward adjustment in the punitive damages was made because the majority of the court found the prior amount to be "excessive," and because the compensatory damages award satisfied the demands of plaintiffs as shown by the evidence. The remaining punitive damages they awarded were to compensate the plaintiffs for "aggravation." It is clear from these reasons that the court accepted defendant's invitation to reexamine the prior punitive damages award as if it never occurred. In doing so, the court directly contradicted our decision that the earlier award was not excessive and changed the theory of punitive damages to one of compensation. Absent new evidence, the...