Punitive damage award of $5 million reduced.
WHEN THE CONDUCT OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS IS SO OUTRAGEOUS AND CLEARLY CONTRARY TO APPLICABLE STANDARDS OF CARE, PUNITIVE DAMAGES CAN BE AWARDED. Often, there is a direct correlation between the amount of punitive damages awarded and the extent to which the conduct is outrageous and violative of applicable...

Faulty `flip-flops' suit settled for $3.50; Inmate's bid for $1M in damages falls short.
Byline: Gary V. Murray WORCESTER - He didn't get the $1 million in punitive damages he was seeking, but inmate David Jackson was awarded $3.07 plus interest yesterday after convincing a judge he was sold a pair of defective shower shoes two years ago in the prison...

The Supreme Court threw out an $80 million judgment against Philip Morris.
The Supreme Court threw out an $80 million judgment against Philip Morris. The plaintiff's lawyer had told the jury to think about all the people whom the company was hurting when it decided how much to award in punitive damages. But the Court found that the company couldn't fairly...

Stop outrageous awards.
A recent United States Supreme Court ruling involving Philip Morris may have blown a chance to erode arbitrary state court punitive damages awards and created inevitable confusion for trial judges and juries. The history of the Supreme Court's treatment of excessive punitive damages awards is rich--with this...

Merck will appeal verdict in NJ Vioxx case.
Merck has announced its intention to appeal the decision returned by a New Jersey state court jury assessing compensatory and punitive damages in a trial of a product liability case brought by Frederick Humeston, an Idaho man who blamed his heart attack on Vioxx. The verdict was...

Dealing with employees at the (roulette) wheel: companies are sometimes liable if an employee has an accident in a personal or company vehicle, but a sound risk management strategy can steer employers clear of the million-dollar verdicts of negligent-entrustment lawsuits.
"Negligent entrustment"--now those are two words that can (and should) strike fear into a risk manager's heart. Why? Because her company could be liable for punitive damages if an employee has a collision while driving for work purposes in either his own or a company-supplied vehicle. ...

Food Safety Act lying in limbo with govt.
Byline: Mahendra Kumar Singh & Nitin Sethi NEW DELHI: The Indian government is keen to empower consumers against sub-standard goods. On the anvil are tough laws which will include the critical product liability clause, making erring manufacturers and suppliers liable to pay punitive damages. The...

Global climate change: the Roberts court and environmental justice.
The first full term of the Roberts Court was momentous. The two newest justices--the chief justice and Justice Alito--pledged "judicial modesty" in their Senate confirmation hearings, but they disregarded settled law on politically charged issues: abortion, affirmative action, campaign finance reform, punitive damages for tobacco companies, and separation of...

Goons batter defaulter's friend.
Byline: Rahul Chhabra NEW DELHI: In an incident of alleged forcible and violent repossession of a financed car, an east Delhi resident has moved the State Consumer Commission seeking compensation and punitive damages of Rs 47 lakh for use of goons by ICICI Bank. The...

Patient's falls: skilled nursing facility to pay large verdict.
The jury returned a verdict of more than $33 million. Of that sum $28.6 million was for punitive damages. The judge threw out the punitive damages on the grounds that the facility, although guilty of negligence in management of the patient's care, was not guilty of intentional...