Hawkins v. Hawkins

• Decision Date: 25 June 1992
• Docket Number: No. 141PA91,141PA91
• Citation: Hawkins v. Hawkins, 331 N.C. 743, 417 S.E.2d 447 (N.C. 1992)
• Parties: Shannon Lee HAWKINS v. James F. HAWKINS.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 447

417 S.E.2d 447

331 N.C. 743

Shannon Lee HAWKINS v. James F. HAWKINS.

No. 141PA91.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

June 25, 1992.

McElwee, McElwee, Cannon & Warden by William H. McElwee, III, North Wilkesboro, for plaintiff-appellee.

Rudisill & Brackett, P.A. by H. Kent Crowe, Hickory, for defendant-appellant.

EXUM, Chief Justice.

Plaintiff Shannon Hawkins brought this action against her adoptive father, defendant James F. Hawkins, seeking compensatory and punitive damages for assault and battery. The uncontradicted evidence at trial tended to show that defendant sexually abused plaintiff from the time she was five and a half years old until she was fourteen years old. Plaintiff brought this action when she was eighteen years old.

At the end of all evidence, the trial court instructed the jury on three issues to be considered by it during its deliberations. These issues were then submitted and answered by the jury:

1. Did James F. Hawkins commit an assault(s) and battery(ies) on Shannon Lee Hawkins?

Answer: Yes

2. If so, what amount, if any, is Shannon Lee Hawkins entitled to recover for:

a. Medical expenses: None

b. Future medical expenses: None

c. Pain and suffering: None

3. In your discretion what amount of punitive damages, if any, should be awarded to Shannon Lee Hawkins?

Answer: $25,000

The trial court did not instruct on plaintiff's entitlement to nominal damages.

The sole issue presented is whether plaintiff Shannon Lee Hawkins can recover punitive damages from defendant James F. Hawkins where the jury failed to award compensatory damages and was not instructed on nominal damages. Defendant argues that plaintiff should not recover punitive damages under these circumstances. Plaintiff argues that, by establishing to the jury's satisfaction all of the elements of an action for assault and battery, she is entitled to recover nominal damages, whether submitted or not; therefore, she should be entitled to recover punitive damages as awarded by the jury. For the reasons set out in the Court of Appeals opinion, we agree with plaintiff. Support for this result can also be found in a recent Florida Supreme Court decision in an opinion by Overton, J., formerly C.J. Ault v. Lohr, 538 So.2d 454 (Fla.1989).

Confusion as to how the issue before us should be resolved results from language in Jones v. Gwynne, 312 N.C. 393, 323 S.E.2d 9 (1984). In Jones, we said "[b]efore punitive damages may be awarded to the plaintiff, the jury must find that the defendant committed an actionable legal wrong and it must award the plaintiff either compensatory or nominal damages." Id. at 405, 323 S.E.2d at 16 (emphasis added). Cited for this proposition were Clemmons v. Life Ins. Co., 274 N.C. 416, 163 S.E.2d 761 (1968), and Parris v. Fischer & Co., 221 N.C. 110, 19 S.E.2d 128 (1942). Understandably, defendant argues that this language mandates a decision in his favor.

The language in Jones is an inexact description of the law as found in our prior cases. Both the Clemmons and Parris decisions cited in Jones relied on the seminal case of Worthy v. Knight, 210 N.C. 498, 187 S.E. 771 (1936). In Worthy, former Chief Justice Stacy stated for the Court: "Punitive damages may not be awarded unless otherwise a cause of action exists and at least nominal damages are recoverable by the plaintiff." Id. at 499, 187 S.E. at 772 (emphasis added). Before Jones, this Court had never said that nominal damages must...