Opinion
July 20, 1970
Appeal by defendants from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County, entered March 25, 1969, in favor of plaintiff against both defendants upon a special verdict of a jury awarding plaintiff damages against both defendants as follows: on the causes for assault, $100,000 punitive damages and $150,000 compensatory damages; on the causes for false arrest, $50,000 punitive damages and $25,000 compensatory damages; on the causes for malicious prosecution, $50,000 punitive damages and $3,750 compensatory damages; and on the causes for negligence, $150,000. Judgment reversed, on the law and the facts; the following causes of action are dismissed: the claims against defendant Long Island Rail Road Company for punitive damages on the assault and false arrest causes, and the causes of action in their entirety against both defendants for malicious prosecution and negligence; and, as to the claims against Long Island Rail Road Company for compensatory damages on the assault and false arrest causes, and as to the assault and false arrest causes of action in their entirety against defendant Schultz, new trial granted, unless, within 30 days after the entry of the order hereon, plaintiff shall serve and file in the office of the Clerk of the trial court, a written stipulation consenting to reduce the assault compensatory award against both defendants to $65,000; the false arrest awards, compensatory against Long Island Railroad and compensatory and punitive against defendant Schultz, to $10,000; and the assault punitive damage award against Schultz to $5,000, and to the entry of an amended judgment accordingly, in which event, the judgment, as so reduced and amended, is affirmed. The disposition herein is without costs, unless plaintiff does not stipulate as above provided, in which event costs of the appeal shall abide the event of the new trial. Although the conduct of defendant Schultz warranted punitive damages against him personally, the evidence was insufficient to establish such authorization, participation or ratification as would warrant punitive damages against his employer, defendant Long Island Rail Road Company ( Craven v. Bloomingdale, 171 N.Y. 439; Lake Shore Ry. Co. v. Prentice, 147 U.S. 101). The negligence award was an improper duplication of the assault-compensatory damage award. There was no evidence of negligence or negligence-induced injuries other than the assaultive acts and assault-induced injuries for which recovery was claimed and awarded on the assault causes of action. The evidence was insufficient to establish malicious prosecution. The indictment and holding of plaintiff for the Grand Jury created a presumption of probable cause. The evidence was insufficient to establish that Schultz deliberately and knowingly lied to, or withheld material information from, the Grand Jury and the Criminal Court, although there was clearly sufficient evidence at the trial to warrant the jury's conclusion on all of the evidence that, no matter what Schultz thought, plaintiff was in fact wrongfully assaulted and arrested. In our opinion, the compensatory awards for assault and false arrest were excessive to the extent indicated herein. The punitive awards against Schultz were obviously based on the financial ability of the Long Island Rail Road Company and not Schultz. The amounts thereof had no reality to the necessities of the case. Rabin, Acting, P.J., Martuscello, Latham, Kleinfeld and Brennan, JJ., concur.