The Florida Supreme Court has struck down a $16 million punitive damages award in a wrongful death case, concluding that the award was out of sync with the jury’s compensatory damages award of just $150,000.

In a Jan. 5 ruling in the case of Brinda Coates vs. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the high court said trial courts abuse their discretion when they reject a party’s request to reduce punitive damages awards which appear unreasonable when compared with compensatory damages and the plaintiff’s injury.

In turn, the state Supreme Court affirmed a state appeals court’s ruling in the case, in which R.J. Reynolds was accused of being partly liable for the death of Coates’ sister, Lois Stucky, as a result of Stucky’s use of the company’s tobacco products.

Florida LawTV

Law TV®’s objective is to provide the best possible legal news coverage to the public in a manner that is timely, accurate, clear and easy to understand. We endeavor to remain steadfast to journalistic values and standards excellence. Our mission is to create the finest possible law focused news product available on the Web.

Click Here To Read The Full Article