Common Law Punitive Damages: Something for Everyone?

Authors

Doug Rendleman, Washington and Lee University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

University of St. Thomas Law Journal

Publication Date

2009

Abstract

Common law punitive damages have some feature that will get everyone's goat: a civil court meting out quasi-criminal punishment; a sanction, punishment, imposed after mere civil procedure; a civil jury stretching imprecise instructions into Robin Hood justice; a private plaintiff receiving a windfall that exceeds any reasonable estimate of loss; and, finally, the Supreme Court wielding the discredited doctrine of substantive due process. This article will examine the preceding fault lines and the countervailing considerations, devoting more attention to substantive due process than the others. It will then turn to Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, and include some modest conclusions of my own.

Comments

Posted with permission from the copyright owner.

Recommended Citation

Doug Rendleman, Common Law Punitive Damages: Something for Everyone?, 7 U. St. Thomas L.J. 1 (2009).