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>levy an enormous punitive fine for... reasons. Do you not know what the word punitive means? Punitive damages are meant to be a punishment as well as to deter
by astura 3y ago
>levy an enormous punitive fine for... reasons.
Do you not know what the word punitive means? Punitive damages are meant to be a punishment as well as to deter others from similar behavior. They are totally normal and not meant to make the plaintiff whole.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punitive_damages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punitive_damages
> Punitive damages, or exemplary damages, are damages assessed in order to punish the defendant for outrageous conduct and/or to reform or deter the defendant and others from engaging in conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the lawsuit.[1] Although the purpose of punitive damages is not to compensate the plaintiff, the plaintiff will receive all or some of the punitive damages in award
- lolinder 3y agoMy concern isn't punitive damages in the abstract, its the 1m:1 ratio of punitive damages to actual damages. From that same Wikipedia article: > In response to judges and juries which award high punitive damages verdicts, the Supreme Court of the United States has made several decisions which limit awards of punitive damages through the due process of law clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. In a number of cases, the Court has indicated that a 4:1 ratio between punitive and compensatory damages is high enough to lead to a finding of constitutional impropriety and that any ratio of 10:1 or higher is almost certainly unconstitutional. There was an exception made for a 526:1 ratio because the case was especially egregious, but this ratio is 1901 times larger than the one in that Supreme Court case.
- mcmcmc 3y agoOh wow. That's very important context. The current SCOTUS would love to get their hands on a case that lets them give their friends more protection.