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Strenke v. Hogner3/18/2005
igence concept," a concept that we had previously described as "'a willingness to harm although such harm may not have been intended,' or 'willingness to perpetrate injury,' or 'a purpose to take known chances of perpetrating an injury.'" Id. at 274 (quoting Bielski v. Schulze, 16 Wis. 2d 1, 14-15, 114 N.W.2d 105 (1962))(emphasis added).
. Furthermore, relying on the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 908 cmt. b. (1977), we stated that punitive damages were allowed when the defendant's conduct demonstrated a "reckless indifference or disregard of the rights of others." Wangen, 97 Wis. 2d at 267. The Restatement (Second) of Torts § 908 cmt. b specifically refers to § 500 of the Restatement (Second) to define "reckless indifference to the rights of others." In turn, the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 500 (1965), provides that a person's conduct is in "reckless disregard of safety" if:
e does an act or intentionally fails to do an act which it is his duty to the other to do, knowing or having reason to know of facts which would lead a reasonable man to realize, not only that his conduct creates an unreasonable risk of physical harm to another, but also that such risk is substantially greater than that which is necessary to make his conduct negligent.
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 500.
. As such, our jurisprudence involving punitive damages focused on the nature of the defendant's conduct and the defendant's knowledge of the likelihood of harm that resulted from his conduct. We utilized the phrase "disregard of rights" rather than "disregard of safety" when referring to the type of conduct sufficient to give rise to punitive damages generally because punitive damages were not restricted to cases involving physical injury. However, in each case, our analysis focused on the defendant's awareness of the likelihood of some type of harm, rather than the likelihood of a violation of the plaintiff's rights in the abstract.
. For instance, in Wangen, 97 Wis. 2d at 263, the plaintiffs were severely injured when the fuel tank of their automobile ruptured following a collision. We held that the plaintiffs pled sufficient facts to support a claim of punitive damages because the facts "portray conduct which is willful and wanton and in reckless disregard of the plaintiff's rights." Id. at 309.
. Our analysis focused on the fact that the complaint alleged that the vehicle manufacturer, Ford: "knew of the defects in the design of the gas tank . . . and of the fire hazard associated with the design"; knew "that these defects were causing serious burn injuries to occupants of these and similar cars"; knew "how to correct these defects in ways that would have prevented the plaintiffs' burns"; "intentionally concealed this knowledge from the government and the public"; and that despite this knowledge, "deliberately chose not to recall" its defective vehicles. Id. at 309 (emphasis added). Thus, our discussion concentrated on the defendant's knowledge of the risk of fire and the likelihood of physical injury to occupants as a result of its failure to change the fuel tank design.
. Likewise, in Maxey, 124 Wis. 2d at 429, a tenant in an apartment complex was burned as a result of an apartment fire. In assessing whether punitive damages were appropriate, we noted that "we focus on the defendant's knowledge and state of mind at the time of the fire" to determine whether his "conduct evidences a reckless indifference to or disregard of the plaintiff's rights." Id. at 434 (emphasis added). Before analyzing the defendant's conduct, we set forth the aforementioned passage from Professors Ghiardi and Kircher's treatise to explain the requisite "conduct j
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