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Article: Punitive damages: courts set limits to restore fair play.(Punitive Damages)
- Article from:
- Montana Business Quarterly
- Article date:
- June 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 University of Montana. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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"Punitive damages are out of control." In 1986, University of Virginia law professor John Calvin Jeffries called for a federal constitutional limit on punitive damages, citing "the evil of repetitive and unconstrained" judgments awarded in civil lawsuits.
Though passionate, Jeffries' call went unanswered for 17 years, as defendants increasingly found themselves at the mercy of judge and jury. In 1996, a U.S. Department of Justice survey of the nation's 75 largest countries founded jury awards of more than $545 million in 212 punitive damage cases. Eight percent of the judgments totaled $1 million or more. In another 136 cases, judges awarded more than $91 ...