Tartaro v. Allstate Indemnity Company
| Decision Date | 25 November 2008 |
| Docket Number | 2007-09653 |
| Citation | 868 N.Y.S.2d 281,2008 NY Slip Op 09382,56 A.D.3d 758 |
| Parties | PAT A. TARTARO et al., Respondents, v. ALLSTATE INDEMNITY COMPANY, Also Known as ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, those branches of the defendant's motion which were pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (7) to dismiss the second and third causes of action for failure to state a cause of action are granted, and those branches of the motion which were pursuant to CPLR 3212 for summary judgment dismissing those causes of action are denied as academic.
The Supreme Court erred in denying that branch of the defendant's motion which was pursuant to CPLR 3211 (a) (7) to dismiss the second cause of action, seeking punitive damages, for failure to state a cause of action. New York does not recognize an independent cause of action for punitive damages (see Aronis v TLC Vision Ctrs., Inc., 49 AD3d 576 [2008]). Therefore, the plaintiffs failed to state a cause of action upon which relief may be granted, as they are unable to assert an underlying cause of action upon which a demand for punitive damages can be grounded (see Cinderella Holding Corp. v Calvert Ins. Co., 265 AD2d 444 [1999]).
Contrary to the plaintiffs' contention, punitive damages are not recoverable in an ordinary breach of contract case, as their purpose is not to remedy private wrongs but to vindicate public rights. Punitive damages are only recoverable where the breach of contract also involves a fraud evincing a high degree of moral turpitude, and demonstrating such wanton dishonesty as to imply a criminal indifference to civil obligations, and where the conduct was aimed at the public generally (see New York Univ. v Continental Ins. Co., 87 NY2d 308, 315-316 [1995]; Rocanova v Equitable Life Assur. Socy. of U.S., 83 NY2d 603, 613 [1994]). Punitive damages are available where the conduct associated with the breach of contract is first actionable as an independent tort for which compensatory damages are ordinarily available, and is sufficiently egregious to warrant the additional imposition of exemplary damages. A party must demonstrate not only egregious tortious conduct, but also that such conduct was part of a pattern of similar conduct directed at the public generally (see New York Univ. v Continental Ins. Co, 87 NY2d at...
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