Last summer, my colleague C.J. Summers and I posted a report about Saccameno v. U.S. Bank National Association, a Seventh Circuit case in which we had filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States.

In late November 2019, the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion reducing the punitive damages to a 1:1 multiple of the compensatory damages, agreeing with both the bottom line and a good deal of the analysis in our brief. And in late January 2020, the court denied the plaintiff’s rehearing petition.
Continue Reading Seventh Circuit Agrees With Mayer Brown Amicus Brief That $3 Million Punitive Damages Award Was Unconstitutionally Excessive

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, lower courts continue to make conceptual errors interpreting and applying the guideposts. The Seventh Circuit will have the opportunity to address and rectify several such errors made by a district court in upholding a $3 million punitive award in Saccameno v. U.S. Bank National Association.
Continue Reading Mayer Brown Submits Amicus Brief For Chamber Of Commerce In Seventh Circuit Appeal Involving Proper Application Of Punitive Damages Guideposts

Louisiana generally does not permit punitive damages. But if an accident happens on navigable waters, and the plaintiff brings a claim under federal maritime law, a Louisiana jury can award punitive damages, and Louisiana courts then must decide the full panoply of issues that arise in punitive damages cases.  That’s what happened in Warren v. Shelter Mutual Insurance Co.
Continue Reading Louisiana Supreme Court Wades Into Punitive Damages In Maritime Context

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 Daugherty v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC. Unfortunately, as a doctrinal matter at least, the erroneous aspects of the decision predominate.  
Continue Reading Fourth Circuit Issues Mixed-Bag Decision On Punitive Damages In FCRA Cases

Car insuranceSeemingly minor legal issues sometimes can have a surprisingly significant effect. That is particularly true with the ratio guidepost because the effect of any dispute about the guidepost’s application is literally multiplied. We recently filed an amicus brief on behalf of a group of organizations in an Eighth Circuit appeal that proves the point: Dziadek v. The Charter Oak Fire Insurance Company, No. 16-4070.
Continue Reading Mayer Brown Submits Amicus Brief For Chamber Of Commerce, American Tort Reform Association, And American Insurance Association In Eighth Circuit Appeal Involving Proper Application Of Punitive Damages Guideposts

Everything for your ailmentsThings have been quiet in the world of punitive damages for the last few months, but two recent decisions substantially reducing punitive awards under the BMW/State Farm factors warrant mention. My colleague Miriam Nemetz will discuss one of them—Grant Thornton, LLP v. Yung—in a forthcoming post. In today’s post, I will address the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Mitri v. Walgreen Co.­a case in which my colleague Michele Odorizzi and I represented the defendant.
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Substantially Reduces Punitive Award Against Walgreen

HiResCourts applying BMW and State Farm often emphasize the Supreme Court’s admonition that the constitutional line is not “marked by a simple mathematical formula”—typically when rejecting a defendant’s argument that the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages is indicative of an excessive award.  But in Mercedes-Benz USA v. Carduco, Inc., the Texas Court of Appeals showed that this dictum is a two-way street, reducing a punitive award to a small fraction of the compensatory damages.
Continue Reading Texas Court Of Appeals Reduces $115 Million Punitive Award To A Mere Shadow Of Itself

License Plate1Tomorrow 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 Process Clause.

In the ensuing 20 years, the decision has proved to be a foundational case in punitive damages jurisprudence.  It has been cited in hundreds, if not thousands, of lower court decisions; it has been the subject of dozens of scholarly articles; and it is featured in virtually every tort and remedies case book used in law schools.

Far from being “a road to nowhere,” as Justice Scalia charged in his dissenting opinion, BMW has served as a constraining force on punitive damages from the moment it was issued.  Before BMW, no court anywhere had held that a punitive award was unconstitutionally excessive.  After BMW, hundreds of punitive awards have been reduced after being found excessive under the “guideposts” announced in that decision.

Having been fortunate enough to have represented BMW in that historical case, we thought it appropriate to provide some reflections on the occasion of the decision’s twentieth anniversary.
Continue Reading Reflections on the Twentieth Anniversary of BMW v. Gore

Carbon-monoxide-3D-ballsLately, we have had many occasions to criticize courts’ analysis of punitive damages issues, so it is nice for a change to be able to report on the Tenth Circuit’s insightful decision in Lompe v. Sunridge Partners.  Readers may recall that we published a post about our amicus brief for the Chamber of Commerce in this case about a year ago.  I am pleased to report that the court adopted virtually all of the argument and analysis set forth in the amicus brief.
Continue Reading Tenth Circuit Reduces Punitive Award By More Than Ninety Percent In Carbon Monoxide Case