In Jacoby v. Sims, 101 Luz. Reg Reports 46 (Van Jura, J. ,2011), defendant filed Preliminary Objections to strike any and all claims of recklessness and/or punitive damages from the plaintiff’s Amended Complaint. Plaintiff alleged that that defendant acted carelessly and recklessly when she:

failed to stop at a stop sign; entered an intersection when it was not safe to do so; entered an intersection when she knew or had reason to know that the traffic on Alter Street had the right of way; struck the plaintiff’s motor vehicle and entered an intersection thereby causing a collision with the right front of her vehicle and the left front side of the plaintiff’s vehicle.

The court held that the case of SHV Coal v. Continental Grain Co., 526 Pa. 489, 587 A.2d 702 (1991) controlled and that the assessment of punitive damages are warranted only “when a person’s actions are of such an outrageous nature as to demonstrate intentional, willful, wanton or reckless conduct.” Id. at 702.

The court held that the conduct alleged by plaintiff did not constitute the outrageous conduct necessary for the award of punitive damages. Instead, the court noted that “aside from conclusory statements that the defendant’s conduct was reckless, the plaintiff fails to allege any legally sufficient underlying material facts that demonstrate such conduct was done with an evil motive or a reckless indifference to the rights of others.” [and that] “Even accepting as true the material allegations in the Amended Complaint, this Court cannot infer the defendant’s conduct is outrageous due to any evil motive.” Jacoby v. Sims, supra at 2.

The court found that plaintiff’s claims failed to meet the standard as set forth in SHV Coal, and re-enforced that evil motive is a critical factor in determining punitive damages. In doing so, the court affirmed that claims for punitive damages at the Preliminary Objection stage may be premature, thus aggressively striking such claims early may change the entire course of litigation and lead to a better evaluation of exposure. 

What It Means to You

It is never too early to challenge inappropriate pleadings that may embolden plaintiffs into making unsubstantiated and inflated claims. When all parties focus on the actual issues at hand, the true value of the case may be ascertained and lead to early resolution.