Insurance
Jul. 22, 2008
Awards Season
The future seems to be that, absent dramatic facts and if the compensatories are sizeable, the U.S. Supreme Court will not let stand an award of punitive damages exceeding the award of compensatory damages.
Rex Heeseman
JAMS
555 W 5th St Fl 32
Los Angeles , CA 90013-1055
Phone: (213) 253-9772
Fax: (213) 620-0100
Email: rheeseman@jamsdar.com
Stanford Univ Law School
Rex Heeseman retired from the Los Angeles Count Superior Court bench in 2014. He is at JAMS, Los Angeles. Besides speaking at various MCLE programs, he co-authors The Rutter Group's practice guide on "Insurance Litigation." From 2002 to 2015, he was an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School.
By Rex Heeseman
This article appears on Page 7
In litigation about a famous oil spill, the trial judge initially did not disturb the jury's award of $5 billion in punitive damages. After two remands from the 9th Circuit, that judge finally selected $4.5 billion for that award.
In re The Exxon Valdez, 490 F.3d 1066 (2007), reduced that award to $2.5 billion. The 9...
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