California Court of Appeal

Award of punitive damages for plaintiffs in a consumer fraud case involving automobile lemon laws is modified from $10 million to the sum of $175,000, or just less than 10 times the compensatory award where the original award was based on an impermissible theory of recovery and was constitutionally excessive.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/23/2005
• Published 12/27/2005

Judges

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• McCormick, Barstow, Sheppard, Wayte & Carruth, D. Greg Durbin, Fresno;  Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., Sonja R. West, Los Angeles, Courtney A. Cook and William E. Thompson for Defendant and Appellant., William M. Krieg & Associates, William M. Krieg and Kimberly L. Mayhew, Fresno, for Plaintiffs and Respondents., Chavez & Gertler, Mark A. Chavez and Kathryn C. Palamountain, Mill Valley, for Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Respondents., Pillsbury & Levinson, Arnold R. Levinson, San Francisco and Terrence J. Coleman for United Policyholders as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Respondents.