Issue: Under Wyoming law, what is the standard for exemplary damages?
| Area of Law: | Business Organizations & Contracts, Litigation & Procedure |
| Keywords: | Exemplary damages; Punitive damages; Principal and Agent |
| Jurisdiction: | Wyoming |
| Cited Cases: | None |
| Cited Statutes: | Restatement (Second) of Torts § 9009; Restatement (Second) of Agency § 217C |
| Date: | 02/01/2001 |
In Campen v. Stone, 635 P.2d 1121 (Wyo. 1981), the Wyoming Supreme Court adopted the Restatement position on a principal’s liability in punitive damages for an agent’s acts:
Punitive damages can properly be awarded against a master or other principal because of an act by an agent if, but only if,
(a) the principal or a managerial agent authorized the doing and the manner of the act, or
(b) the agent was unfit and the principal or a managerial agent was reckless in employing or retaining him, or