The Missouri Supreme Court overturned its cap on punitive damages in common law cases. The name of the case was Lillian Lewellen v. Chad Franklin & Franklin National Auto Sales.. The plaintiff, who was scammed by a used car dealership, received a punitive damage judgment of $1 million by a jury, but the cap reduced the award to $500,000. The Missouri Supreme Court reversed the reduction and unanimously found that the mandatory reduction of Ms. Lewellen’s punitive damages award violates her right to trial by jury.
The American Association for Justice President Lisa Blue Baron’s response to the ruling was “this decision is an authoritative confirmation that arbitrary limits on damages are a violation of Americans’ right to a trial by jury.”
For more information, please visit https://www.justice.org/news/mo-supreme-court-overturns-punitive-damage-cap.
