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• Car Seat Heater Burn Injury Cases ( July 2007 )
  

  Car seat heaters are commonplace but these very heaters that offer comfort to many of us, are often the cause of severe, permanent burn injuries to paraplegics, quadriplegics or others that have lower body sensory deficits. Many of the electric car seat heaters are defective and overheat in spots, with temperatures running well above the safe level, often to 135 even as high as 160 degrees.

• GM Pickup Trucks with Side-Saddle Gas Tanks: Misconduct Justifying Punitive Damages ( July 2007 )
  

  From 1973 until 1987, General Motors Corporation sold over 9,000,000 pickup trucks with a glaring dangerous defect. The fuel tanks each carrying 20 gallons of gasoline were placed on the side of the trucks, outside the sturdy steel frame rails.

• Law Firm Must Pay Expert $11 Million ( April 2007 )
  

  A prominent lawyer’s suit against an expert witness backfired, when the expert won an $11 million verdict against his firm for malicious prosecution. Last month, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed the verdict, finding that the law firm had acted reprehensibly when it sued the expert without adequate grounds.

• Tort Reform ( August 2004 )
  

  On June 16, 2004, Mississippi governor Haley Barbour signed House Bill No. 13 into law, bringing significant reform to Mississippi’s civil justice system. Prior to the reform, Mississippi’s civil justice system had been ranked as the worst litigation environment in the United States by the United States Chamber of Commerce.

• Utah Court Reduces $145 million Punitive Damage Awardin Campbell v. State Farm on Remand from United StatesSupreme Court, But Says It Retained Discretion toApprove Nine-to-One Ratio ( May 2004 )
  

  The Utah Supreme Court has reduced a $145 million punitive damage award to $9 million one year after the United States Supreme Court ruled that the award violated the Constitution's due process clause. The Court stated that it violated due process because the defendant's conduct did not justify punitive damages that were 145 times greater than the compensatory damages of $1 million.

• Ruling on Punitive Damages: California Court of Appeal Issues an Opinion Clarifying the Standard Of Proof Required to Establish Managing Agency and Corporate Ratification for the Imposition of Punitive Damages ( December 2003 )
  

  California's Civil Code section 3294 governs the question of when punitive damages may be recoverable.

• U.S. Supreme Court Issues Opinion Clarifying the Scope of Punitive Damages that May Be Imposed in a Civil Case ( December 2003 )
  

  Courts are constantly confronted with determining the type of evidence a jury may hear and use in considering the imposition of punitive damages, as well as evaluating whether the amount of assessed punitive damages is impermissibly large. In its latest foray into this field, the U.S. Supreme Court evaluated the due process concerns presented by a punitive damages figure that was nearly 60 times greater than the amount of compensatory damages awarded by the jury.

• Using The Due Process Clause To Defend Claims For Class-Wide Punitive Damages ( May 2003 )
  

  Class actions can put defendants under enormous and undue pressure to settle or face a crippling verdict. That pressure is intensified when there is the specter of class-wide punitive damages. These awards can serve the state's legitimate interest in punishing and deterring unlawful conduct, and so punitive damages cannot be avoided completely in high-stakes litigation.

• Utah Jury's $145 Million Punitive Damages Award Struck Down ( April 2003 )
  

  In a decision that the majority opinion described as "neither close nor difficult," the United States Supreme Court struck down a $145 million punitive damages award resulting from a insurance bad faith claim against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company.