Greedy Trial Lawyer
A Fresh Look At Punitive Damages - Good News For Corporate Wrongdoers
Category: Gaming The System
Ford Motor Company, and other large corporations, have a friend in Washington. Actually, a friendly court. Unfortunately, for the rest of us the friendly court is the U.S. Supreme Court. We can now expect that virtually any award of punitive damages in any state or federal court, if appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, is likely to be bounced back for a fresh look at the process by which the jury determined the amount of the punitive award.
Here is what the nonsensical wording of the Supreme Court's Philip Morris decision now allows:
Ford will get review of $55 million award
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ordered reconsideration of a $55 million punitive damage award assessed against Ford Motor Co. for an Explorer sport-utility vehicle rollover accident that left a California woman paralyzed.The justices told a California appeals court to take a fresh look at the case in light of a Feb. 20 Supreme Court ruling that set aside an award to a smoker suing Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA unit. That decision said jurors can't punish for injuries to people who aren't involved in the case.
The jury's $368 million award to Benetta Buell-Wilson and her husband was the largest ever assessed against Ford. Courts have since cut that figure to $82.6 million, including the punitive award and $27.6 million in compensatory damages, plus interest.
Ford told the Supreme Court that the couple "from start to finish, devoted much of their case to urging the jury to punish for allegedly killing or injuring third parties not before the court who were driving a different vehicle, the Bronco II."
Buell-Wilson argued that evidence about the Bronco II was used for the permissible purpose of showing that Ford was aware of instability problems in its SUVs when it put the Explorer on the market.
Every punitive damage award in America is now a matter of federal law and subject to endless fresh looks until Washington accepts the determination. When will those injured by reckless or malicious conduct by corporations have a friend in Washington?
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