Necessary protection: an examination of the State Farm V. Campbell standards test and why economically efficient rules do not work at the intersection between due process and punitive damages.

From: Albany Law Review | Date: December 22, 2006| Author: Thomas, Daniel F. | Copyright information

I. INTRODUCTION

In 1994, a District Court of New Mexico awarded a woman $160,000 in compensatory damages and $2.7 million in punitive damages because of the burns caused after the woman spilled a cup of McDonald's coffee on herself. (1) In 1996, the Alabama Supreme Court awarded $4 million dollars in punitive damages in light of $4,000 worth of cosmetic damage to a doctor's BMW. (2) And in 2000, a Florida Circuit Court awarded $145 billion in punitive damages, the larges...

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