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Punitive damages dispute may reach California high court.

Publication: Trial
Publication Date: 01-FEB-04 		Format: Online - approximately 1075 words
Delivery: Immediate Online Access

Article Excerpt
The California Supreme Court could soon be called on to determine whether a strict ratio should exist between punitive and compensatory damages in that state, following conflicting rulings by two state appellate courts.

The rulings represent significantly different interpretations of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell, in which the U.S. Supreme Court deemed excessive a punitive damages award that was 145 times the compensatory damages. (123S. Ct. 1513 (2003).)

In Romo v. Ford Motor Co., the Fifth District Court of Appeal--after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered it to reconsider its earlier affirmation of a punitive damages award in light of State Farm--modified the award so that the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages was reduced from 58:1 to less than 5:1. (No. F034241, 2003 WL 22784959 (Cal. Ct. App. Nov. 25, 2003).) Critics claim that the decision undermines California's long-standing policy that punitive damages should serve as a deterrent to wrongdoing.

A week later, the Second District Court...

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