Roberts v. Powell

Neely, Justice:

This appeal from the Circuit Court of McDowell County raises four principal assignments of error as a consequence of a jury trial in which both compensatory and punitive damages were recovered by the surface owners of land against the mineral owners. I. J. Powell, et al., the mineral owners, defendants below and appellants here assert that the circuit court erred when it: (1) permitted a general verdict to be returned against multiple defendants; (2) gave instructions which permitted the jury to consider the question of punitive damages; (3) overruled defendants’ objection to…