Montana is known fondly to many as Big Sky Country, but it also is quickly gaining a reputation for big punitive damages awards. Not only are juries imposing breathtaking amounts of punitive damages with increasing regularity, but the courts of Montana
Guideposts
Mayer Brown's Punitive Damages Blog
Guideposts, published by Mayer Brown, focuses on litigation topics with a particular emphasis on punitive damages law. The blog covers issues such as liability standards, trial strategies, constitutional limits on punitive damages, and appellate court decisions affecting punitive damages awards. It also addresses related areas including employment law, fraud, and civil procedure, often analyzing significant court rulings and their implications for defendants and plaintiffs. The content includes discussions on due process rights, vicarious liability, and the interplay between compensatory and punitive damages. Guideposts serves as a resource for legal professionals interested in the evolving jurisprudence surrounding punitive damages and related litigation challenges.
Latest from Guideposts - Page 8
Mayer Brown Submits Amicus Brief For Chamber Of Commerce In Tenth Circuit Appeal Involving Excessive Punitive Damages
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, refusing to disturb (or inadequately reducing)…
West Virginia Enacts Punitive Damages Statute
West Virginia long has been at or near the top of the Chamber of Commerce’s and American Tort Reform Association’s lists of judicial hellholes. Last month, the State took a big step toward changing its image, enacting a series of…
Using Supreme Court Commerce Clause Doctrine To Demonstrate That A Large Punitive Award Effects Improper Extraterritorial Punishment
The Supreme Court held in BMW v. Gore that states may not use punitive damages awards to punish a defendant for the impact of its conduct in other states. BMW involved an obvious violation of that principle: The plaintiff introduced…
Mayer Brown Appellate Group Launches New And Improved Web Site
Way back in the prehistoric era of the worldwide web, Mayer Brown’s appellate group created what was, at the time, an innovative new web site. It was among the first legal web sites to incorporate sound (oral argument recordings) and…
Second Circuit Issues Important Decision On Punitive Damages In Class Actions
Some of the most important unanswered questions in the law of punitive damages relate to the procedures governing the imposition of punitive damages in a class action. Last week, the Second Circuit addressed one such question in Johnson v. Nextel …
Some Thoughts About Verdict Forms
When we are asked to assist with post-verdict motions after a jury has returned a large punitive award, all too often we find that the verdict form relating to punitive liability asks only whether the standard for punitive liability has…
Why Senator Leahy’s Proposal To Bar Businesses From Deducting Punitive Awards From Taxable Income Is A Bad Idea
In mid-January, Senator Patrick Leahy (Dem. Vt.) proposed—again—legislation that would prevent businesses from deducting from taxable income any punitive damages they have paid during the relevant tax year.
Although it would seem that this legislation has little chance of…
Second Circuit Holds 4:1 Ratio Excessive And Orders Remittitur To 2:1 In Hostile-Environment Case
In late December, the Second Circuit released a significant and interesting decision on excessiveness of punitive damages—and we say that not just because we represented the defendants in the case.
Turley v. ISG Lackawanna, Inc. involved racial harassment of a…
California Court Of Appeal Holds That Plaintiff May Not Collect Both Multiple Damages And Punitive Damages For Same Conduct
In prior posts, we have occasionally adverted to the issue of multiple punishments in the constitutional context. Just before the new year, a California appellate court issued an unpublished decision in Paletz v. Adaya bearing on a different aspect of…