Carl E. Hodges, Plaintiff-Appellant v. S.c. Toof & Company, Defendant-Appellee

Summary

The Tennessee Supreme Court held that the reinstatement-and-lost-wages remedy provided by T.C.A. Sec. 22-4-108(f) for employees discharged for jury service is cumulative of, not exclusive of, the common law tort of retaliatory discharge, because that tort was recognized in Clanton before the 1986 amendment and the statute nowhere declares its remedies exclusive; the court accordingly reinstated the jury's $200,000 compensatory award. The court also announced a new punitive damages framework, confining punitive awards to intentional, fraudulent, malicious, or reckless conduct proved by clear and convincing evidence and mandating a bifurcated trial with enumerated factors for fixing amounts; it vacated the $375,000 punitive award and remanded for a new punitive damages trial. It affirmed the trial court's discretionary denial of litigation expenses under T.R.C.P. 54.04(2) and declared the new punitive damages rules applicable to all cases then pending. Justice O'Brien, concurring in part and dissenting in part, agreed Hodges had a right of action under Sec. 22-4-108 and joined the punitive damages procedure, but would have affirmed the Court of Appeals, contending Clanton created no free-standing exception to employment at will and that the majority was intruding on the legislature's policymaking role.