14 Ga. App. 707 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1914
Ansley sued the Mayor and City Council of Americus for damages in the sum of $1,000 because of alleged negligence on the part of a contractor of the city in piling up- and leaving for an unreasonable length of time dirt and clay on the sidewalk in front of the plaintiff’s house from a ditch that was being dug in the street, thereby causing him and his family great inconvenience and annoyance. There was no allegation of any special damage. The defendant demurred to the petition and answered, denying liability. The court overruled the demurrer, and the case proceeded to trial. At the conclusion of the plaintiff’s testimony the defendant moved for a nonsuit, and the motion was overruled. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, for $100. The defendant filed a motion for a new trial, containing the usual general grounds, and alleging that the court erred in not granting a nonsuit, and in certain portions of the charge. The motion was overruled, and the defendant excepted, assigning error upon the overruling of the demurrer, as well as upon the refusal of a new trial.
While we do not now decide that a municipal corporation would not under some circumstances be liable for punitive or exemplary damages, we do hold that in this case the evidence discloses no such conduct on the part of the municipality or its agents as justifies punitive or exemplary damages, and the court was in error in charging, as set out in the motion for a new trial, as follows: “In some torts the law permits the jury, where actual damages have been sustained, to award what is known as punitive damages, — that is, in the nature of a punishment to the defendant for the wrong done. The rule in relation to the recovery of punitive damages for a nuisance is as follows: It is only in instances where the injury inflicted is from wanton or malicious motives, or reckless disregard of the rights of others, or when an act results in great hardship and oppression, that punitive damages are given. Now, on that branch of the case, if you consider the defendant liable in damages, before you would be authorized to return a verdict including any punitive damages, you have to believe that the act on the part of the plaintiff [ F] was wilful or wanton, or done with a malicious motive, or that there was a reckless disregard of the rights of the defendant [F], or that the act resulted in great hardship and oppression. If you should believe that the plaintiff [F] is liable, and that the defendant wilfully, and with malicious motives as against this defendant [F], caused this dirt unnecessarily to be thrown on the walk in front of his premises, or if you believe that after it was thrown there the city, with a malicious motive, wilfully and wantonly permitted it to remain there an unreasonable length of time, in that instance you would be authorized to award punitive damages; and there is no rule of law to define to the jury the amount you should award as punitive damages. It is a matter that addresses itself to the conscience of the jury under the