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Law Practice,
Insurance

Apr. 12, 2007

Too Punitive?

By Rex Heeseman - A Los Angeles trial judge tries to make sense of appellate courts' review of the use of multipliers in punitive-damages awards.

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.

FOCUS COLUMN

By Rex Heeseman
     
      The blockbuster decision of State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408 (2003), contained several significant comments, including "an award of [punitive damages] more than four times the amount of compensatory damages might be close to the line of constitutional impropriety."
      Appellate courts thereafter addre...

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