Worrie v. Boze
| Decision Date | 11 March 1957 |
| Docket Number | No. 4586,4586 |
| Citation | 96 S.E.2d 799,198 Va. 891 |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | ROSS WORRIE AND CHARLES E. BAILY, ETC. v. CHRISTINE BOZE AND LYNN J. BOZE, PARTNERS TRADING AND DOING BUSINESS UNDER THE FIRM NAME AND STYLE OF ARTHUR MURRAY STUDIO. Record |
In our former opinion we affirmed a judgment entered upon a verdict awarding compensatory and punitive damages to the plaintiffs below. (198 Va. 533, 95 S.E.2d 192.) Against the defendants' contention that the plaintiffs' claim was barred by the one-year statute of limitations, we held that the plaintiffs' claim for both compensatory and punitive damages was of such nature that it would survive the death of the plaintiffs, and that hence the limitation thereon is five years and not one year. Code, § 8-24. (198 Va., at pages 536-7, 95 S.E.2d, at pages 195-6.)
In a petition for a rehearing the defendants have challenged the soundness of this holding with respect to the plaintiffs' claim for punitive damages, contending that such claim would not survive. We granted a rehearing limited to the question 'whether the plaintiffs' claim for punitive damages is of such nature that it would survive in the event of the death of the plaintiffs.' After a careful reconsideration of the matter we adhere to our view that such claim would survive the death of the plaintiffs and that the limitation thereon is five years.
In their petition for a rehearing the defendants have cited a number of authorities holding that a claim for punitive damages does not survive the death of the wrongdoer and cannot be asserted against his personal representative.
These authorities are beside the point. We are not here concerned with whether a plaintiff's claim for punitive damages would survive the death of the defendant tort-feasor and could be asserted against his personal representative. Our inquiry is whether such claim would survive the death of a plaintiff and could be asserted by the plaintiff's personal representative against the wrongdoer. The authorities agree that in the absence of a contrary statutory provision, these latter inquiries should be answered in the affirmative.
In 25 C.J.S., Damages, § 124, p. 731, it is said: 'While, in the case of a right of action which does not survive the death of the injured person, the incidental right to exemplary or punitive damages does not survive, and while statutes sometimes prevent the assessment of such damages...
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Black v. Gardner
...damages including punitive damages as the decedent might have recovered on as much of the cause of action as survives. Worrie v. Boze, 198 Va. 891, 96 S.E.2d 799 (1957).1 U.S.Const. amend. VII reads: In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the rig......
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Smith v. Gray Concrete Pipe Co., Inc.
...Atlas Properties, Inc. v. Didich, 226 So.2d 684 (Fla.1969); Kern v. Kogan, 93 N.J.Super. 459, 226 A.2d 186 (1967) and Worrie v. Boze, 198 Va. 891, 96 S.E.2d 799 (1957) are to like We find the rationale of these authorities unassailable, and agree with the logic 'that if a wrongdoer may be p......
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Caperton v. A.T. MAssey Coal Company, Inc., No. 33350 (W.Va. 11/21/2007)
...210, 215, 355 S.E.2d 563, 567 (1987); and Worrie v. Boze, 198 Va. 533, 537-38, 95 S.E.2d 192, 196-97 (1956), aff'd on reh'g, 198 Va. 891, 96 S.E.2d 799 (1957))). With respect to the application of res judicata, the Virginia Court has been consistent in holding that [f]our elements must be p......
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Caperton v. A.T. MAssey Coal Company, Inc., No. 33350 (W.Va. 11/21/2007)
...210, 215, 355 S.E.2d 563, 567 (1987); and Worrie v. Boze, 198 Va. 533, 537-38, 95 S.E.2d 192, 196-97 (1956), aff'd on reh'g, 198 Va. 891, 96 S.E.2d 799 (1957))). With respect to the application of res judicata, the Virginia Court has been consistent in holding that [f]our elements must be p......