High Court tosses 'excessive' award. (Late Breaking News).

National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, April, 2003 by Brostoff, Steven

A United States Supreme Court decision overturning a $145 million punitive damage award against State Farm will go a long way toward reining in runaway legal judgments, tort reform and industry representatives say. "The Supreme Court recognized some time ago that punitive damages bad run wild in this country," according to nationally known tort expert Victor Schwartz, who is general counsel for the Washington-based American Tort Reform Association.

"Now, it has provided a decision with teeth that will curb this fundamental violation of due process that has been imposed on many unpopular defendants over the past decade," Mr. Schwartz said. The decision in the case of State Farm v. Campbell held that a $145 million punitive damage award in a Utah case in...

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