Dr Gore 4 Million In Punitive Damages example essay topic

The topic that I wanted to learn more about in this section is punitive damages. I have seen in the news recently about cases where the plaintiff has been awarded millions of dollars. I wanted to know how the plaintiff would be eligible for the right of punitive damages and some of the history behind the ruling. I also wanted to learn about the some of the largest settlements in history as well. Six percent of winning plaintiffs in civil jury trials walk away with punitive damage awards, according to recent U.S. Department of Justice statistics.

Some multi-million dollar punitive damage verdicts soar to over 500 times the amount of jury-awarded compensatory damages. Punitive damages are subject to award in nearly all states. In most states, punitive damages are also insurable. Across the country it appears that punitive damages have increased dramatically in frequency and amount when submitted to the jury for consideration. In part, this trend may be attributable to the fact that the public generally has been desensitized to multi-million dollar verdicts. A case that I thought was very interesting was in 1996, the Supreme Court decided BMW vs. Gore.

The Supreme Court there determined that the amount of a punitive award could be so grossly excessive that it would violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In its decision, the Court examined three "guideposts" for determining whether an award was "grossly excessive". Subsequent judicial decisions have distinguished Gore on its facts instead of following Gore's overriding principal. BMW vs. Gore involved the purchase of a "new" BMW by Dr. Gore. The facts disclosed that, prior to purchase, the vehicle had been damaged by acid rain. BMW repainted the car but sold it as "new", without disclosing the fact that it had been repainted.

Evidence at trial indicated that the resale value of the car was reduced by approximately $4,000. However, the jury awarded Dr. Gore $4 million in punitive damages, which the Alabama Supreme Court later reduced to $2 million. After some research the largest punitive damage settlement I found, if you can't already guess, is against the tobacco industry. I learned that smokers in a 2000 landmark case asked for up to $196 billion in punitive damages from the tobacco industry Monday to punish it for ruining the lives of millions of sick and addicted customers.

The class-action case was based on behalf of 300,000 to 700,000 sick Florida smokers against the nation's five biggest cigarette makers. The tobacco companies have argued they should not be required to pay any more than their combined net worth of $15.3 billion, the difference between assets and liabilities on financial balance sheets. As defendants, the five companies have argued they don't deserve to pay punitive damages because they " ve changed their ways. The executives have pointed out a stepped up anti-youth smoking campaign, a Web site outlining tobacco's risks, and withdrawing advertisements in popular magazines including People and Sports Illustrated.

Their attorneys have insisted the approximately $254 billion nationwide the settlement currently being paid over 25 years is punishment enough. As you can tell by the way court case are portrayed in the media, the ones that get most of the attention are the usually have huge punitive damages settlements associated with them. Punitive damages in a way, are the symbol of law in America. In most of the cases there are two positive outcomes.

The plaintiffs that are rewarded the huge settlements and the corporations paying them, hopefully learning a lesson.