Although the Supreme Court identified three guideposts for evaluating whether a punitive award is unconstitutionally excessive 23 years ago in BMW v. Gore and refined those guideposts 16 years ago in State Farm v. Campbell,...more
7/22/2019
/ Amicus Briefs ,
Appeals ,
Breach of Contract ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Chamber of Commerce ,
Clerical Errors ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Bankruptcy ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Default ,
Loans ,
Mortgages ,
Punitive Damages ,
Statutory Violations ,
US Bank National Association
On June 24, the Supreme Court held in Dutra Group v. Batterton that punitive damages may not be awarded under federal maritime law in connection with an unseaworthiness claim....more
Should divided panels of federal appellate courts really be deciding state-law issues of first impression? That’s what happened last month in Lindenberg v. Jackson National Life Insurance Co. In Lindenberg, two Sixth Circuit...more
1/28/2019
/ Appeals ,
Bad Faith ,
Breach of Contract ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Damage Caps ,
Death Benefits ,
Denial of Insurance Coverage ,
Insurance Claims ,
Insurance Litigation ,
Life Insurance ,
Policy Terms ,
Punitive Damages
In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell, the Supreme Court strongly implied that in some cases even a 1:1 ratio of punitive to compensatory damages might be too high. In Torres v. B/E Aerospace, Inc., the...more
We reported on a bunch of eye-popping punitive awards in 2017. There have been further developments in a number of those cases. Though we may provide more comprehensive discussions of some of those developments, here is a...more
A couple of months ago, the Kentucky Court of Appeals in Grant Thornton LLP v. Yung cut a trial court’s award of punitive damages from $80 million to $20 million—reducing the punitive/compensatory ratio to 1:1....more
Cases in which an appellate court holds that a state’s standard for punitive liability was not satisfied even though there was sufficient evidence to support liability for the underlying causes of action are regrettably rare....more
10/6/2015
/ Appeals ,
Automotive Industry ,
Cause of Action Accrual ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Corporate Liability ,
Design Defects ,
Gross Negligence ,
KY Supreme Court ,
Motor Vehicles ,
Nissan ,
Punitive Damages ,
Standard of Proof
One of the biggest challenges confronting a defendant that has lost a large judgment is the need to file a supersedeas bond in order to prevent execution on the judgment during the pendency of the appeal. There are good...more
Although the Supreme Court’s modern due process cases have given lower courts a framework for deciding whether an award of punitive damages is excessive, some lower courts have been misapplying the Supreme Court’s guidance,...more