In That Case: Department of State v. Muñoz
False Claims Act Insights - Railroaded! How to Approach the Twin Tracks of Parallel Proceedings
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 334: Listen and Learn -- Standards of Review (Con Law)
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 160: Listen and Learn -- Standards of Review (Con Law)
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 295: Listen and Learn -- Due Process and Equal Protection (Con Law)
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 117: Listen and Learn -- Due Process and Equal Protection (Con Law)
Personal Jurisdiction Part 3 – Oral Arguments in the Ford Cases [More with McGlinchey Ep. 12]
Day 11 of One Month to Better Compliance Through HR-the Fair Process Doctrine
Webinar: Investigating and Resolving Sexual Assaults on Campus
Former Solicitor General Ted Olson Discusses 2013's Biggest Supreme Court Case—His.
Benton Housing Associates Limited Partnership (“Benton Housing”) filed on August 9th in the United States District Court for the District of Arkansas (Central Division) a Complaint against the following defendants: City...more
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently handed down a decision affirming that the 12 percent interest rate imposed on damage awards is constitutional. Chief Justice Scott L. Kafker wrote the May 9, 2023, decision...more
Joint Juice, according to its labelling and advertising, promoted “healthy and happy,” if not pain free, joints. A jury apparently thought it was closer to snake oil, finding the product’s marketing false, misleading, and...more
In the latest post-Barr development, a federal district court in Colorado held that the government-backed debt exception was always invalid, but found that due process concerns prevented enforcement of the Telephone Consumer...more
With $2 billion on the line, the highest court in the nation has refused to hear an appeal that aimed to undo a jury award given to cancer patients and their families....more
While too many of us get overdosed with clownish depictions - from doctors, hospitals, insurers, and corporations, especially Big Pharma firms - of how the civil justice system operates, it’s always worth a reminder of the...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit amended its August 2020 opinion in Epic Systems v. Tata Consultancy to clarify that its analysis of punitive damages applies only to this particular case. Epic Systems Corp. v....more
Addressing the appropriateness of three separate damages awards totaling $520 million, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the lower court’s award of $140 million in compensatory damages, but found that...more
The case law surrounding the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is ever-changing, and staying up to date on certain, key statutory definitions is a core compliance task for any company subject to the FCRA....more
On March 21, 2019, U.S. Magistrate Judge Staci G. Cornelius in the Northern District of Alabama reduced a FCRA plaintiff’s $3 million punitive damages award to less than $500,000. The court held that the multi-million dollar...more
Often, when faced with litigation, it can be difficult to assess potential exposure for defendants. While actual damages may be easy to calculate, treble damages, attorneys’ fee awards, and punitive damages significantly...more
Attorneys who appear in both state and federal courts must be familiar with the differences between the two systems. While some rules have harmonized over time, other procedures are entirely distinct. As a matter of...more
As my colleague Andy Frey and I reported in an earlier post, an Illinois federal jury in July returned a $150 million punitive verdict against AbbVie without awarding the plaintiff any compensatory damages. That verdict is...more
Inevitably, when conscientious judges delve into the multi-dimensional issue of excessive punitive damages, they get some things right and other things wrong. Such is the case with the Fourth Circuit’s recent decision in...more
The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the imposition of excessive exemplary damages. Whether an award comports with due process is measured by three guideposts...more
A bankruptcy judge in the Eastern District of California recently issued a decision that is sure to raise appellate eyebrows. Concluding in In re Sundquist that the defendant bank had violated the automatic stay by...more
In one of our recent posts we touched on punitive damages in the context of one of the Pinnacle Hip bellwether trials. In this post, we address another interesting aspect of punitive damages: whether they can be used to...more
In a case pitting the 1960s band The Turtles — best known for the 1967 hit “Happy Together” — against satellite radio, a federal court in California recently granted summary judgment for Sirius XM Radio on the plaintiffs’...more
In Brandt v. Superior Court, the California Supreme Court held that when a plaintiff proves that an insurance company withheld policy benefits in bad faith, attorneys' fees reasonably incurred to compel payment of the...more
In a case closely watched by tort reformers, a federal appeals court has whittled a $25.5 million punitive damages award to $1.95 million in a carbon monoxide poisoning lawsuit in Wyoming. Reversing much of the lower...more
Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in BMW of North America. Inc. v. Gore, the first time the Court had ever held that a punitive damages award was unconstitutionally excessive under the Due...more
The due process review of a punitive damages award for excessiveness has a number of interconnected parts. A series of relatively small errors can quickly add up and dramatically skew the outcome of a review process that is...more
The defendants aren’t in the health care business, but their April 1 victory in the Tenth Circuit has implications for defendants in all lines of business. That’s why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce weighed in with an amicus...more
The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires procedural fairness in state trials, but that principle seems absent from a recent California Court of Appeal decision upholding a judgment against Kaiser Gypsum...more
As readers of this blog and litigants and their attorneys in punitive damages cases well know, the U.S. Supreme Court gets the final say on matters of constitutional interpretation, including the due-process requirements for...more