Insurance
Dec. 15, 2011
Punitive damages ratio: What's the impact of Bullock III?
The latest installment in litigation against Philip Morris USA may open the door for a ratio in excess of 10:1.
Rex Heeseman
JAMS
555 W 5th St Fl 32
Los Angeles , CA 90013-1055
Phone: (213) 253-9772
Fax: (213) 620-0100
Email: rheeseman@jamsdar.com
Stanford Univ Law School
Rex Heeseman retired from the Los Angeles Count Superior Court bench in 2014. He is at JAMS, Los Angeles. Besides speaking at various MCLE programs, he co-authors The Rutter Group's practice guide on "Insurance Litigation." From 2002 to 2015, he was an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School.
With reference to an award of punitive damages, State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408 (2003), made major pronouncements such as: "an award of more than four times the amount of compensatory damages might be close to the line of constitutional impropriety"; and a "single-digit maximum is appropriate in all but the most exceptional of cases, and '[w]hen compensatory damages are substantial, then a lesser ratio, perhaps only equal to compensatory damages, can reach...
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