Citation

Mesulam S. Columbia Law Rev. 2004; 104(4): 1114-1149.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Columbia University School of Law)

DOI

10.2307/4099369

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

After the Supreme Court's 2003 decision in State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell, a coherent reading of the Court's punitive damages jurisprudence signals a prohibition on multiple punitive awards. Claim aggregation is necessary in mass tort cases where multiple punitive awards threaten to overdeter defendants and underprotect their due process rights. Plaintiffs also benefit from claim aggregation, without which the winners of the race to the courtroom door reap windfall awards, leaving the coffers depleted for subsequent claimants. The punitive damages class stands alone as the procedural device best suited to effect the twin goals of deterrence and retribution, to prevent arbitrary results and overdeterrence, to achieve distributive justice, to protect the due process rights of all parties, and to subject punitive awards to effective review.