# In the Matter of the Estate of Johnny VAJGRT, Deceased, Bill Ernst, Inc., Intervenor-Appellant

> Supreme Court of Iowa · August 5, 2011 · 801 N.W.2d 570

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9880421

## Case

- **Full name:** In the Matter of the Estate of Johnny Vajgrt, Bill Ernst, Inc., Intervenor-Appellant. Appeal From the Iowa
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Iowa
- **Decided:** August 5, 2011
- **Citations:** 801 N.W.2d 570; 2011 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 56
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Wiggins
- **Judges:** Mansfield, Wiggins, Appel, Hecht
- **Cited by:** 31 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9880421

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that precedent should be followed where legislature reenacted statute “without attempting to disturb the holding”
- noting the legislature’s repeated reenactment of a statute without disturbing the prior judicial interpretation was evidence affirming acquiescence
- explaining the purposes of punitive damages

## Opinion text

WIGGINS, Justice
(concurring specially)-
I write to concur specially. I agree with the well-reasoned dissent. If we were to develop the common law further in this area, I might overrule our prior precedents for the reasons stated in the dissent and allow the court to award punitive damages awarded against the estate of a deceased tortfeasor. However, when the legislature jumped into the arena of punitive damages in 1986, it left most of our common law rules regarding punitive damages intact. In this instance, the legislature’s inaction as to these common law rules tips the scales not to overturn a precedent in existence when the legislature passed Iowa Code chapter 668A (2009). Accordingly, I am unable to join the dissent.
APPEL, J., joins this special concurrence.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9880421. Public record. Not legal advice.