Bullman v. D & R Lumber Co.
Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia
463 S.E.2d 128 (W. Va. 1995)
D & R Lumber Company (defendant) cut down trees on Carol Sue Bullman's (plaintiff) property without permission; a West Virginia statute made unauthorized timber-cutting subject to treble damages (three times the timber's value), explicitly stating those treble damages applied in addition to other legal penalties. The trial court awarded Bullman $3,100 in treble compensatory damages, additional compensatory damages for land repair and property loss, and $25,000 in common-law punitive damages; D & R appealed, arguing Bullman's choice to sue under the treble-damages statute precluded also recovering punitive damages.
Whether a plaintiff's recovery of statutory treble damages for timber trespass precludes an additional award of common-law punitive damages for the same conduct.