Abstract
Blockbuster punitive damages awards, ie, those awards exceeding $100 million, attract attention based on their sheer size. While there have been fewer such awards in the last decade, they remain an important presence in the legal landscape. Taking notice of these and other large punitive damages awards, courts and state policymakers have taken steps to both constrain them and render them more predictable. States have enacted punitive damages caps to limit the amount of punitive damages courts can award, but these caps often contain a number of exceptions and apply only to damages under a specific state’s law. At a broader level, the Supreme Court has announced a general limitation on punitive damages under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which applies to all cases and contains very few exceptions. Under State Farm v Campbell, punitive damages awards that exceed the accompanying compensatory award by more than a factor of ten will generally violate due process. However, this limit is substantially higher than the punitive damages caps that some states have put in place …
McMichael, Benjamin J and Viscusi, W Kip, Taming Blockbuster Punitive Damages Awards (February 6, 2018). Vanderbilt Law Research Paper No 18-13; University of Illinois Law Review, forthcoming.
First posted 2018-02-24 07:20:09
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