Cooper v. Woodson Pontiac, Inc.

By JUDGE CLIFFORD R. WECKSTEIN

This case was tried to a jury on April 19, 1988. Much to the defendants’ dismay and discomfort, the Court allowed the jury to consider whether fraud had been proven, and whether punitive damages would lie. In doing so, this Court followed the guidance strongly given by the Virginia Supreme Court in Brown v. Koulizakis, 229 Va. 524, 531, 331 S.E.2d 440 (1985):

When the sufficiency of a plaintiff’s evidence is challenged upon a motion to strike the evidence . . . the trial court should in every case overrule the motion where there is any doubt on the question. "The…