BISMARCK, N.D. (Legal Newsline) – A jury’s $1.1 billion verdict against a drunk driver who killed two while driving on the Bismarck Expressway was a product of juror passion and must be struck, the North Dakota Supreme Court has ruled.
On May 13, the court overturned the damages portion of a verdict from Burleigh County against Jordan Morsette, who in 2016 was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to driving on the wrong side of the road and killing 22-year-old Abby Renschler and 21-year-old Taylor Govern and injuring 21-year-old Shayna Monson.
Morsette had a blood alcohol level approaching .30 at the time of the accident. But $242 million in compensatory damages and $885 million in punitive damages do not make judicial sense, the court ruled, even after the trial judge lowered the punitives verdict in accordance with state law.
Part of the opinion authored by Justice Jerod Tufte will also prevent Monson and the estates of Renschler and Govern from pursuing punitive damages at a new damages trial.
They will also not be permitted to introduce evidence of Morsette’s intoxication. Because he had admitted fault, it was inappropriate to include that bit of information, the court ruled.
“The Plaintiffs claim the method by which they were injured, or by which their child died, was relevant to the nature and extent of noneconomic damages they suffered,” Tufte wrote.
“The Plaintiffs assert Morsette’s intoxication directly impacted their noneconomic damages because they suffered unique pain and mental anguish stemming from the fact that Morsette was intoxicated while driving.
“This Court has not addressed whether a defendant’s intoxication is relevant to a plaintiff’s damages when the defendant admits liability. Other courts have held evidence of intoxication is irrelevant and prejudicial when a defendant admits liability for an accident.”
Any damages resulting from his intoxication are not compensable under state law, the court ruled.
Given the size of the damages award from the verdict, Tufte wrote “we can only conclude the jury was motivated by emotion and enhanced its compensatory damages verdict to punish Morsette.”
As for punitive damages, the plaintiffs can’t show Morsette acted with actual malice toward the women he killed and injured, the court ruled.
“Although Morsette’s conduct while intoxicated can be characterized as grossly negligent or extremely reckless, there are no special circumstances, such as an intent to injure or personal ill will toward the plaintiffs, to support a finding of actual malice,” Tufte wrote.