In Jasen Dane Ranch, LLC v. Nelson Hardwood Lumber Company, Inc. (2019AP1774), the Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld a circuit court decision denying punitive damages under Wisconsin’s punitive damages statute. 

Facts

J. Nelson Hardwood Lumber Company, Inc., mismarked a property boundary line and, as a result, erroneously harvested trees from a parcel that belonged to Jasen Dane Ranch, Inc. The sole legal question before the Court of Appeals was whether Jasen Dane Ranch, Inc. was entitled to punitive damages. (In other words, not just to the cost of the harvested trees, but extra money because of particularly malicious behavior.) The circuit court held they were not. 

Decision

On appeal, Jasen Dane Ranch, Inc. brought two arguments: first, a claim that the circuit court applied the wrong standard of proof when it made its decision. And second, that Nelson Hardwood’s conduct satisfied the standard of conduct set forth in WIS. STAT. § 895.043(3) (Wisconsin’s punitive damages statute). 

After an in-depth analysis of the relevant case law, the Court of Appeals upheld the trial court decision, determining that under the appropriate standard “a reasonable jury could not find by clear and convincing evidence that Nelson Hardwood was ‘aware’ that its conduct was ‘substantially certain to result in the [Jasen Dane Ranch, Inc’s] rights being disregarded.'” No punitive damages were warranted.