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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 492 › BFI, Inc. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc.
1. The Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment does not apply to punitive damages awards in cases between private parties; it does not constrain such an award when the government neither has prosecuted the action nor has any right to recover a share of the damages awarded. Pp. 492 U. S. 262-276.
(a) The primary concern which drove the Framers of the Eighth Amendment was the potential for governmental abuse of "prosecutorial" power, not concern with the extent or purposes of civil damages. Nothing in English history suggests that the Excessive Fines Clause of the English Bill of Rights of 1689, the direct ancestor of the Eighth Amendment, was intended to apply to damages awarded in disputes between private parties. Pp. 492 U. S. 264-268.
(b) The history of the use and abuse in England of amercements, including the fact that Magna Carta placed limits on the Crown's use of excessive amercements, is no basis for concluding that the Excessive Fines Clause limits a civil jury's ability to award punitive damages. Magna Carta was aimed at putting limits on the excesses of royal power, purposes which are clearly inapposite in a case where a private party receives exemplary damages from another party and the government has no share in the recovery. Any overlap between civil and criminal procedure at the time of Magna Carta is insignificant when all indications are that English courts never have understood Magna Carta's amercements clauses to be relevant to private damages of any kind. Pp. 492 U. S. 268-273.
(c) The language of the Excessive Fines Clause and the nature of our constitutional framework make it clear that the Eighth Amendment places limits on the steps a government may take against an individual. The fact that punitive damages are imposed through the aegis of courts and serve to advance governmental interests in punishment and deterrence is insufficient to support applying the Excessive Fines Clause in a case between private parties. Here, the government of Vermont has not taken a positive step to punish, as it does in the criminal context, nor used the civil courts to extract large payments or forfeiture for the purpose of raising revenue or disabling some individual. Pp. 492 U. S. 273-276.
2. Because BFI failed to raise before either the District Court or the Court of Appeals the question whether the punitive damages award was excessive under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, this Court will not consider the effect of due process on the award. Pp. 492 U. S. 276-277.
3. Federal common law does not provide a basis for disturbing the jury's punitive damages award. In performing the limited function of a federal appellate court, this Court perceives no federal common law standard, or compelling federal policy, that convinces the Court it should not accord considerable deference to a district court's decision not to order a new trial. The District Court in this case properly instructed the jury on Vermont law and applied the proper state law standard in considering whether the verdict was excessive, and the Court of Appeals correctly held that the District Court did not abuse its discretion. Pp. 492 U. S. 277-280.
845 F. 2d 404, affirmed.
BLACKMUN, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court with respect to Parts I, III, and IV, and the opinion of the Court with respect to Part II, in which REHNQUIST, C. J., and BRENNAN, WHITE, MARSHALL, SCALIA, and KENNEDY, JJ., joined. BRENNAN, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which MARSHALL, J., joined, post, p. 492 U. S. 280. O'CONNOR, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which STEVENS, J., joined, post, p. 492 U. S. 282.
During the first four months of BFI's predatory campaign, Kelco's revenues dropped 30%. Kelco's attorney wrote to BFI's legal department asserting that BFI's pricing strategy was illegal, and threatened to initiate court proceedings if it continued. BFI did not respond, and continued its price-cutting policy for several more months. BFI's market share remained stable from 1982 to 1984, but by 1985, Kelco had captured 56% of the market. That same year, BFI sold out to a third party and left the Burlington market.
BFI moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, a new trial, or remittitur. The District Court denied these motions and awarded Kelco $153,438 in treble damages and $212,500 in attorney's fees and costs on the antitrust claim, or, in the alternative, $6,066,082.74 in compensatory and punitive damages on the state law claim. BFI appealed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the judgment both as to liability and as to damages. 845 F. 2d 404 (1988). On the issue of punitive damages, the court noted that the evidence showed that BFI "wilfully and deliberately attempted to drive Kelco out of the market," and found no indication of jury prejudice or bias. Id. at 410. Addressing the Eighth Amendment issue, the court noted that, even if the Amendment were applicable "to this nominally civil case," the damages were not "so disproportionate as to be cruel, unusual, or constitutionally excessive," and upheld the award. Ibid. Because of its importance, we granted certiorari on the punitive damages issue. 488 U.S. 980 (1988).
amendment is addressed to courts of the United States exercising criminal jurisdiction"); Fong Yue Ting v. United States, 149 U. S. 698, 149 U. S. 730 (1893) (Amendment inapplicable to deportation, because deportation is not punishment for a crime); Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U. S. 651, 430 U. S. 664-668 (1977).
"Bail, fines, and punishment traditionally have been associated with the criminal process, and by subjecting the three to parallel limitations, the text of the Amendment suggests an intention to limit the power of those entrusted with the criminal law function of government."
But there is more than inferential evidence from language to support our conclusion that the Excessive Fines Clause is inapplicable to an award of punitive damages. The undisputed purpose and history of the Amendment generally, and of the Excessive Fines Clause specifically, confirms our reading. The Eighth Amendment clearly was adopted with the particular intent of placing limits on the powers of the new Government.
"At the time of its ratification, the original Constitution was criticized in the Massachusetts and Virginia Conventions for its failure to provide any protection for persons convicted of crimes. This criticism provided the impetus for inclusion of the Eighth Amendment in the Bill of Rights."
Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. at 430 U. S. 666 (footnote omitted). See generally 32 U. S. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 7 Pet. 243, 32 U. S. 250 (1833) ("In almost every convention by which the constitution was adopted, amendments to guard against the abuse of power were recommended"); Weems v. United States, 217 U.S. at 217 U. S. 372 (the "predominant political impulse" of proponents of the Bill of Rights "was distrust of power, and they insisted on constitutional limitations against its abuse"). Simply put, the primary focus of the Eighth Amendment was the potential for governmental abuse of its "prosecutorial" power, not concern with the extent or purposes of civil damages.
"The English version, adopted after the accession of William and Mary, was intended to curb the excesses of English judges under the reign of James II."
During the reigns of the Stuarts, the King's judges had imposed heavy fines on the King's enemies, much as the Star Chamber had done before its abolition in 1641. L. Schwoerer, The Declaration of Rights, 1689, p. 91 (1981). In the 1680's, the use of fines "became even more excessive and partisan," and some opponents of the King were forced to remain in prison because they could not pay the huge monetary penalties that had been assessed. Ibid. [Footnote 8] The group which drew up the 1689 Bill of Rights had first-hand experience; several had been subjected to heavy fines by the King's bench. Id. at 91-92, and n. 198.
the English Bill of Rights, which stressed the difference between civil damages and criminal fines. See Lord Townsend v. Hughes, 2 Mod. 150, 86 Eng.Rep. 994 (C.P. 1677). In short, nothing in English history suggests that the Excessive Fines Clause of the 1689 Bill of Rights, the direct ancestor of our Eighth Amendment, was intended to apply to damages awarded in disputes between private parties. Instead, the history of the Eighth Amendment convinces us that the Excessive Fines Clause was intended to limit only those fines directly imposed by, and payable to, the government.
common law, convince us that petitioners' view of the relevant history does not support the result they seek.
power of the King, on the "tyrannical extortions, under the name of amercements, with which John had oppressed his people," T. Taswell-Langmead, English Constitutional History 83 (T. Plucknett 10th ed. 1946), whether that power be exercised for purposes of oppressing political opponents, for raising revenue in unfair ways, or for any other improper use. See 2 W. Holdsworth, A History of English Law 214 (4th ed. 1936). These concerns are clearly inapposite in a case where a private party receives exemplary damages from another party, and the government has no share in the recovery. Cf. United States v. Halper, 490 U. S. 435 (1989) (Double Jeopardy Clause).
"Time works changes, brings into existence new conditions and purposes. Therefore, a principle to be vital must be capable of wider application than the mischief which gave it birth. This is particularly true of constitutions."
in nature, the Eighth Amendment did not expressly include it within its scope. Rather, as we earlier have noted, the text of the Amendment points to an intent to deal only with the prosecutorial powers of government.
however, they merely repeat the standards they urged us to adopt under the Eighth Amendment. It is not our role to review directly the award for excessiveness, or to substitute our judgment for that of the jury. Rather, our only inquiry is whether the Court of Appeals erred in finding that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to grant petitioners' motion, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59, for a new trial or remittitur. Applying proper deference to the District Court, the award of punitive damages should stand.
law, however, will control on those issues involving the proper review of the jury award by a federal district court and court of appeals. See Donovan v. Penn Shipping Co., 429 U. S. 648, 429 U. S. 649-650 (1977); see also 6A J. Moore, J. Lucas, & G. Grotheer, Moore's Federal Practice, ¦ 59.04 (2d ed. 1987).
In reviewing an award of punitive damages, the role of the District Court is to determine whether the jury's verdict is within the confines set by state law, and to determine, by reference to federal standards developed under Rule 59, whether a new trial or remittitur should be ordered. The Court of Appeals should then review the District Court's determination under an abuse-of-discretion standard. [Footnote 25] Although petitioners and their amici would like us to craft some common law standard of excessiveness that relies on notions of proportionality between punitive and compensatory damages, or makes reference to statutory penalties for similar conduct, these are matters of state, and not federal, common law. Adopting a rule along the lines petitioners suggest would require us to ignore the distinction between the state law and federal law issues. For obvious reasons, we decline that invitation.
federal policy, which convinces us that we should not continue to accord considerable deference to a district court's decision not to order a new trial. [Footnote 26] In this case, the District Court properly instructed the jury on Vermont law, see n 24, supra, and applied the proper state law standard in considering whether the verdict returned was excessive. Although the opinion of the Court of Appeals is not clear to us as to whether it applied state or federal law in reviewing the District Court's order denying the new trial or remittitur, we are convinced that its conclusion that there was no abuse of discretion by the District Court is consistent with federal standards, in light of the broad range of factors Vermont law permits juries to consider in awarding punitive damages.
Petitioners before this Court also challenge the award on due process grounds. For reasons set forth in 492 U. S. we decline to reach that issue.
"Roll-off waste collection is usually performed at large industrial locations and construction sites with the use of a large truck, a compactor, and a container that is much larger than the typical 'dumpster.'"
845 F. 2d 404, 406 (CA2 1988).
Ingraham, like most of our Eighth Amendment cases, involved the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause, and it therefore is not directly controlling in this Excessive Fines Clause case. The insights into the meaning of the Eighth Amendment reached in Ingraham and similar cases, however, are highly instructive.
We left open in Ingraham the possibility that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause might find application in some civil cases. See 430 U.S. at 430 U. S. 669, n. 37. The examples we cited as possibilities -- persons confined in mental or juvenile institutions -- do not provide much support for petitioners' argument that the Excessive Fines Clause is applicable to a civil award of punitive damages. In any event, petitioners have not made any argument specifically based on the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause.
There is language in Carlson v. Landon, 342 U. S. 524, 342 U. S. 546 (1952), suggesting that the Bail Clause may be implicated in civil deportation proceedings. The Court there held that "the Eighth Amendment does not require that bail be allowed" in such cases, but the opinion in that case never addressed the question whether the Eighth Amendment applied in civil cases: the Court held that the Bail Clause does not require Congress to provide for bail in any case, but prohibits only the imposition of excessive bail. Carlson provides petitioners with little support for another reason as well. Bail, by its very nature, is implicated only when there is a direct government restraint on personal liberty, be it in a criminal case or in a civil deportation proceeding. The potential for governmental abuse which the Bail Clause guards against is present in both instances, in a way that the abuses against which the Excessive Fines Clause protects are not present when a jury assesses punitive damages.
The same basic mode of inquiry should be applied in considering the scope of the Excessive Fines Clause as is proper in other Eighth Amendment contexts. We look to the origins of the Clause and the purposes which directed its Framers.
"The applicability of the Eighth Amendment always has turned on its original meaning, as demonstrated by its historical derivation."
Ingraham, 430 U.S. at 430 U. S. 670-671, n. 39. We emphasize, however, that this historical emphasis concerns the question of when the Eighth Amendment is to be applied; as the Court's jurisprudence under the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause indicates, its approach has not relied on history to the same extent when considering the scope of the Amendment. See Trop v. Dulles, 356 U. S. 86, 356 U. S. 101 (1958) (plurality opinion) ("The Amendment must draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society").
Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all had a Declaration of Rights or a Constitution expressly prohibiting excessive fines. See 1 B. Schwartz, The Bill of Rights: A Documentary History 235 (Virginia), 272 (Pennsylvania), 278 (Delaware), 282 (Maryland), 287 (North Carolina), 300 (Georgia), 343 (Massachusetts), and 379 (New Hampshire) (1971).
A "fine signifieth a percuniarie punishment for an offence, or a contempt committed against the king." 1 E. Coke, Institutes *126b. The second edition of Cunningham's Law-Dictionary, published in 1771, defined "fines for offences" as "amends, pecuniary punishment, or recompence for an offence committed against the King and his laws, or against the Lord of a manor." 2 T. Cunningham, A New and Complete Law-Dictionary (unpaginated). See also 1 T. Tomlins, Law-Dictionary 796-799 (1836) (same); 1 J. Bouvier, Law Dictionary 525 (4th ed. 1852) (same).
"in the Common law, it is a part of what the jurors are to inquire of, and bring in, when an action passeth for the plaintiff: . . . [Damages] comprehend a recompence for what the plaintiff or demandant hath suffered, by means of the wrong done to him by the defendant or tenant."
1 Cunningham, supra; see also 1 Tomlins, at 498 (same); 1 Bouvier, at 360 (same). T he dichotomy between fines and damages was clear.
"Knew the Law of his time,"
"He was foremost a poet,"
"In search of a rhyme."
For particular examples, see the 1683 Trial of Thomas Pilkington, and others, for a Riot, 9 State Tr. 187, and the 1684 Trial of Sir Samuel Barnardiston, 9 State Tr. 1333.
"adopted as an admonition to all departments of the national government, to warn them against such violent proceedings as had taken place in England in the arbitrary reigns of some of the Stuarts."
By 1689, the definition of "fines" and "damages" discussed in nn. 6 and | 6 and S. 257fn7|>7, supra, already had taken hold. For a definition of damages, see T. Blount, A Law-Dictionary (1670) (unpaginated).
See Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Realm of England Commonly called Glanvill 127-128 (G. Hall ed. 1965) (written between 1187-1189); Introduction to the Curia Regis Rolls, 1199-1230 A. D., in 62 Publications of the Selden Society 465 (C. Flower ed. 1944). Defendants could be amerced as well. "The justices did not hesitate to extract amercements from both parties when the occasion arose." Id. at 466. For a wide variety of conduct for which amercements were assessed on parties, see Beecher's Case, 8 Co.Rep. 58a, 59b-60a, 77 Eng.Rep. 559, 564-565 (Ex.1609); 1 Select Pleas of the Crown (A.D. 1200-1225), in 1 Publications of the Selden Society 2, 4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 13, 43-44, 90 (F. Maitland ed. 1888); 62 Selden Society, at 464-467.
See 62 Selden Society, at 467; Pleas of the Crown for the County of Gloucester: A. D. 1221, p. xxxiii (F. Maitland ed. 1884) (Pleas for Gloucester); see generally 1 Selden Society.
"[t]he distinction between amercements and damages is well known. The former were payable to the crown after legal action or for an error or ineptitude which took place in its course; the latter represented the loss incurred by a litigant through an unlawful act. They were payable to [the private litigant]."
62 Selden Society, at 463.
The only overlap between the two might occur in the Assize of Novel Disseisin, in which the court could grant the recovery of land and chattels, and might amerce the defendant as well. Id. at 156; see generally 2 Pollock & Maitland 44-56, 523-524. But even in this action, the amerciable offense is one to the Crown, for every disseisin was a breach of the peace, as well as an improper possession of another's property. Id. at 44. Along these lines, see 62 Selden Society at 478-479 ("In comparison with amercements, damages were seldom remitted, for the good reason that the king could do as he liked with his own, but had to be careful not to show mercy at the expense of a wronged subject").
"A Free-man shall not be amerced for a small fault, but after the manner of the fault; and for a great fault after the greatness thereof, saving to him his contenement; (2) and a Merchant likewise, saving to him his Merchandise; (3) and any other's villain than ours shall be likewise amerced, saving his wainage, if he falls into our mercy. (4) And none of the said amerciaments shall be assessed, but by the oath of honest and lawful men of the vicinage. (5) Earls and Barons shall not be amerced but by their Peers, and after the manner of their offence. (6) No man of the Church shall be amerced after the quantity of his spiritual Benefice, but after his Lay-tenement, and after the quantity of his offence."
Magna Charta, 9 Hen. III, ch. 14 (1225), 1 Stat. at Large 5 (1769), confirmed, 25 Edw. I, ch. 1 (1297), id. at 131-132.
See generally McKechnie 278; G. Smith, A Constitutional and Legal History of England 129, 131 (1955). Although most amercements were not large, see McKechnie 287; 2 Pollock & Maitland 513, being placed in the King's mercy meant, at least theoretically, that a man's estate was in the King's hands, and it was within the King's power to require its forfeit. See 62 Selden Society, at 463; McKechnie 71-72 (one called to the King's service who did not go was in mercy, and his estate was subject to forfeiture). Amercements also resembled a form of taxation, particularly when used against entire townships. See Pleas for Gloucester xxxiv.
According to Pollock and Maitland, after the court found a person to be in the King's mercy, and that person obtained a pledge for the payment of whatever sum was to be amerced, the court would go on to other cases. At this point, the person had not yet been amerced.
"At the end of the session, some good and lawful men, the peers of the offender (two seem to be enough) were sworn to 'affeer' the amercements. They set upon each offender some fixed sum of money that he was to pay; this sum is his amercement."
2 Pollock & Maitland 513; see also Pleas for Gloucester xxxiv. This procedure indicates that amercements were assessed by a "jury" different from that which considered the case.
See, e. g., Massey, The Excessive Fines Clause and Punitive Damages: Some Lessons from History, 40 Vand.L.Rev. 1233 (1987); Note, The Constitutionality of Punitive Damages Under the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment, 85 Mich.L.Rev. 1699 (1987).
So, for example, when the House of Lords placed certain limits on the types of cases in which exemplary damages could be awarded, Lord Devlin's extensive discussion mentioned neither Magna Carta or the Excessive Fines Clause of the 1689 Bill of Rights, nor did it suggest that English constitutional or common law placed any restrictions on the award of exemplary damages other than those discussed above. Rookes v. Barnard,  A.C. 1129, 1221-1231. In fact, Lord Devlin recognized that his suggested alterations were a departure from the traditional common law view. Id. at 1226. We find it significant that other countries that share an English common law heritage have not followed the decision in Rookes, and continue to allow punitive or exemplary damages to be awarded without substantial interference. See, e.g., Uren v. John Fairfax & Sons,  A.L.R. 25, 27 (Australia) (declining to follow Rookes); Bahner v. Marwest Hotel Co., 6 D.L.R. 3d 322, 329 (1969) (Canada) (same); Fogg v. McKnight,  N.Z.L.R. 330, 333 (New Zealand) (same).
"[Constitutions] are not ephemeral enactments, designed to meet passing occasions. They are, to use the words of Chief Justice Marshall, 'designed to approach immortality as nearly as human institutions can approach it.' The future is their care and provision for events of good and bad tendencies of which no prophecy can be made. In the application of a constitution, therefore, our contemplation cannot be only of what has been, but of what may be. Under any other rule, a constitution would indeed be as easy of application as it would be deficient in efficacy and power. Its general principles would have little value, and be converted by precedent into impotent and lifeless formulas. Rights declared in words might be lost in reality."
217 U.S. at 217 U. S. 373.
"the law has not laid down what shall be the measure of damages in actions of tort; the measure is vague and uncertain, depending on a vast variety of causes, facts, and circumstances,"
and declined to "intermeddle" in the damages determination.
"[I]t must be a glaring case indeed of outrageous damages in a tort, and which all mankind at first blush must think so, to induce a Court to grant a new trial for excessive damages."
"Damages are designed not only as a satisfaction to the injured person, but likewise as punishment to the guilty, to deter from any such proceeding for the future and as a proof of the detestation of the jury to the action itself."
Wilkes v. Wood, Lofft. 1, 18-19, 98 Eng.Rep. 489, 498-499 (K.B.). Other English cases followed a similar approach. See, e.g., Roe v. Hawkes, 1 Lev. 97, 83 Eng.Rep. 316 (K.B.1663); Grey v. Grant, 2 Wils. 252, 253, 95 Eng.Rep. 794, 795 (K.B.1764); Benson v. Frederick, 3 Burr. 1846, 97 Eng.Rep. 1130 (K.B.1766).
"precludes a private party from filing a civil suit seeking damages for conduct that previously was the subject of criminal prosecution and punishment. The protections of the Double Jeopardy Clause are not triggered by litigation between private parties."
Id. at 490 U. S. 451 (emphasis added). We left open the question whether a qui tam action, in which a private party brings suit in the name of the United States and shares in any award of damages, would implicate the Double Jeopardy Clause. Id. at 490 U. S. 451, n. 11. We leave the same question open for purposes of the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause.
Because of the result we reach today, we need not answer several questions that otherwise might be necessarily antecedent to finding the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause applicable to an award of punitive damages, and that have not been briefed by the parties. We shall not decide whether the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on excessive fines applies to the several States through the Fourteenth Amendment, nor shall we decide whether the Eighth Amendment protects corporations as well as individuals.
Petitioners claim that the due process question is within the "clear intendment" of the objection it has made throughout these proceedings. Our review of the proceedings in the District Court and the Court of Appeals shows that petitioners' primary claim in both of those courts was that the punitive damages award violated Vermont state law. Petitioners also argued that the award violated the Eighth Amendment. We fail to see how the claim that the award violates due process is necessarily a part of these arguments. We shall not assume that a nonconstitutional argument also includes a constitutional one, and shall not stretch the specific claims made under the Eighth Amendment to cover those that might arise under the Due Process Clause as well. Although in particular cases we have applied the doctrine petitioners advance, see Braniff Airways, Inc. v. Nebraska Bd. of Equalization and Assessment, 347 U. S. 590, 347 U. S. 598-599 (1954), this is not a case where a respondent is making arguments in support of a judgment. See Revere v. Massachusetts General Hospital, 463 U. S. 239, 463 U. S. 244, n. 6 (1983); Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U. S. 471, 397 U. S. 475-476, n. 6 (1970). In the absence of a developed record on the issues relevant to this due process inquiry, we shall not stretch the "clear intendment" doctrine to include this case, as we do not think that the due process question is "only an enlargement" of the Eighth Amendment inquiry. Although the due process analysis of an award of punitive damages may track closely the Eighth Amendment analysis suggested by petitioners, we shall not assume that to be the case, and shall not attempt to decide the question in the absence of a record on the due process point developed in the District Court and the Court of Appeals.
The law of punitive damages in Vermont is typical of the law in most American jurisdictions. The doctrine has long standing. As far back as 1862, the Supreme Court of Vermont noted that the law on exemplary damages was "long settled in this state." Nye v. Merriam, 35 Vt. 438, 446. A Vermont jury may award punitive damages only if the evidence supports a finding that the defendant acted with malice, see, e.g., Appropriate Technology Corp. v. Palma, 146 Vt. 643, 647, 508 A. 2d 724, 726 (1986), or "malice or wantonness shown by the act," Rogers v. Bigelow, 90 Vt. 41, 49, 96 A. 417, 420 (1916). Punitive damages awards may be set aside if grossly and manifestly excessive. See Glidden v. Skinner, 142 Vt. 644, 648, 458 A. 2d 1142, 1145 (1983). The Vermont Supreme Court has declined to adopt a rule of proportionality between compensatory and punitive damages, Pezzano v. Bonneau, 133 Vt. 88, 92, 329 A. 2d 659, 661 (1974), but does not allow punitive damages to stand when an award of compensatory damages has been vacated, Allard v. Ford Motor Credit Co., 139 Vt. 162, 164, 422 A. 2d 940, 942 (1980). Once a plaintiff has presented sufficient evidence of malice, evidence of "the defendant's pecuniary ability may be considered in order to determine what would be a just punishment for him.'" Lent v. Huntoon, 143 Vt. 539, 550, 470 A.2d 1162, 1170 (1983), quoting Kidder v. Bacon, 74 Vt. 263, 274, 52 A. 322, 324 (1902).
The $6 million in punitive damages in this case apparently is the largest such judgment in the history of Vermont; there have been other substantial jury awards, however, in the State. See, e.g., Coty v. Ramsey Associates, Inc., 149 Vt. 451, 546 A.2d 196 ($380,000 in punitive damages), cert. denied, 487 U.S. 1236 (1988).
We have never held expressly that the Seventh Amendment allows appellate review of a district court's denial of a motion to set aside an award as excessive. Although we granted certiorari in two cases in order to consider the issue, in both instances we found it unnecessary to reach the question when we decided the case. See Neese v. Southern R. Co., 350 U. S. 77 (1955) (even assuming appellate review power under the Seventh Amendment, Court of Appeals was not justified in reversing denial of new trial on the particular facts of the case); Grunenthal v. Long Island R. Co., 393 U. S. 156, 393 U. S. 158 (1968) (same). In light of the result we reach today, we follow the same course here.
This is particularly true because the federal courts operate under the strictures of the Seventh Amendment. As a result, we are reluctant to stray too far from traditional common law standards, or to take steps which ultimately might interfere with the proper role of the jury.
I join the Court's opinion on the understanding that it leaves the door open for a holding that the Due Process Clause constrains the imposition of punitive damages in civil cases brought by private parties. See ante at 492 U. S. 276-277.
Several of our decisions indicate that, even where a statute sets a range of possible civil damages that may be awarded to a private litigant, the Due Process Clause forbids damages awards that are "grossly excessive," Waters-Pierce Oil Co. v.
Texas, 212 U. S. 86, 212 U. S. 111 (1909), or "so severe and oppressive as to be wholly disproportioned to the offense and obviously unreasonable," St. Louis, I. M. & S. R. Co. v. Williams, 251 U. S. 63, 251 U. S. 66-67 (1919). See also Southwestern Telegraph & Telephone Co. v. Danaher, 238 U. S. 482, 238 U. S. 491 (1915); Missouri Pacific R. Co. v. Humes, 115 U. S. 512, 115 U. S. 522-523 (1885). I should think that, if anything, our scrutiny of awards made without the benefit of a legislature's deliberation and guidance would be less indulgent than our consideration of those that fall within statutory limits.
"In determining the amount of punitive damages, . . . you may take into account the character of the defendants, their financial standing, and the nature of their acts."
App. 81. Guidance like this is scarcely better than no guidance at all. I do not suggest that the instruction itself was in error; indeed, it appears to have been a correct statement of Vermont law. The point is, rather, that the instruction reveals a deeper flaw: the fact that punitive damages are imposed by juries guided by little more than an admonition to do what they think is best. Because "[t]he touchstone of due process is protection of the individual against arbitrary action of government,'" Daniels v. Williams, 474 U. S. 327, 474 U. S. 331 (1986), quoting Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U. S. 539, 418 U. S. 558 (1974), I for one would look longer and harder at an award of punitive damages based on such skeletal guidance than I would at one situated within a range of penalties as to which responsible officials had deliberated and then agreed.
before us, however, I leave fuller discussion of these matters for another day.
Awards of punitive damages are skyrocketing. As recently as a decade ago, the largest award of punitive damages affirmed by an appellate court in a products liability case was $250,000. See Owen, Punitive Damages in Products Liability Litigation, 74 Mich.L.Rev. 1257, 1329-1332 (1976). Since then, awards more than 30 times as high have been sustained on appeal. See Ford Motor Co. v. Durrill, 714 S. W. 2d 329 (Tex. App. 1986) ($10 million); Ford Motor Co. v. Stubblefeld, 171 Ga. App. 331, 319 S. E. 2d 470 (1984) ($8 million); Palmer v. A. H. Robins Co., 684 P. 2d 187 (Colo. 1984) ($6.2 million). The threat of such enormous awards has a detrimental effect on the research and development of new products. Some manufacturers of prescription drugs, for example, have decided that it is better to avoid uncertain liability than to introduce a new pill or vaccine into the market. See, e.g., Brief for Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association et. al. as Amici Curiae 5-23. Similarly, designers of airplanes and motor vehicles have been forced to abandon new projects for fear of lawsuits that can often lead to awards of punitive damages. See generally P. Huber, Liability: The Legal Revolution and Its Consequences 152-171 (1988).
Inc., 149 Vt. 451, 546 A. 2d 196 (punitive damages of $380,000 based on compensatory damages of $187,500), cert. denied, 487 U.S. 1236 (1988).
The Court holds today that the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment places no limits on the amount of punitive damages that can be awarded in a suit between private parties. That result is neither compelled by history nor supported by precedent, and I therefore respectfully dissent from Part II of the Court's opinion. I do, however, agree with the Court that no due process claims -- either procedural or substantive -- are properly presented in this case, and that the award of punitive damages here should not be overturned as a matter of federal common law. I therefore join Parts I, III, and IV of the Court's opinion. Moreover, I share JUSTICE BRENNAN's view, ante at 492 U. S. 280-282, that nothing in the Court's opinion forecloses a due process challenge to awards of punitive damages or the method by which they are imposed, and I adhere to my comments in Bankers Life & Casualty Co. v. Crenshaw, 486 U. S. 71, 486 U. S. 86-89 (1988) (opinion concurring in part and concurring in judgment), regarding the vagueness and procedural due process problems presented by juries given unbridled discretion to impose punitive damages.
5 Wall. 475 (1867). But 13 years before O'Neil, the Court had applied the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments to a Territory. See Wilkerson v. Utah, 99 U. S. 130 (1879) (holding that execution by firing squad was not prohibited by the Eighth Amendment). In Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber, 329 U. S. 459, 329 U. S. 462 (1947), the Court assumed, without deciding, that the Eighth Amendment applied to the States. Any confusion created by O'Neil, Wilkerson, and Francis was eliminated in Robinson v. California, 370 U. S. 660, 370 U. S. 666-667 (1962), in which the Court, albeit without discussion, reversed a state conviction for the offense of narcotics addiction as constituting cruel and unusual punishment and being repugnant to the Fourteenth Amendment. Since Robinson, the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause has been regularly applied to the States, most notably in the capital sentencing context. In addition, the Court has assumed that the Excessive Bail Clause of the Eighth Amendment applies to the States. See Schilb v. Kuebel, 404 U. S. 357, 404 U. S. 365 (1971). I see no reason to distinguish one Clause of the Eighth Amendment from another for purposes of incorporation, and would hold that the Excessive Fines Clause also applies to the States.
of speech, Virginia Pharmacy Bd. v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc., 425 U. S. 748 (1976), and cannot have its property taken without just compensation, Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, 438 U. S. 104 (1978). A corporation is also protected from unreasonable searches and seizures, Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U. S. 307 (1978), and can plead former jeopardy as a bar to a prosecution, United States v. Martin Linen Supply Co., 430 U. S. 564 (1977). Furthermore, a corporation is entitled to due process, Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia v. Hall, 466 U. S. 408 (1984), and equal protection, Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Ward, 470 U. S. 869 (1985), of law.
Whether a particular constitutional guarantee applies to corporations "depends on the nature, history, and purpose" of the guarantee. First National Bank of Boston, supra, at 435 U. S. 779, n. 14. The payment of monetary penalties, unlike the ability to remain silent, is something that a corporation can do as an entity, and the Court has reviewed fines and monetary penalties imposed on corporations under the Fourteenth Amendment at a time when the Eighth Amendment did not apply to the States. See Waters-Pierce Oil Co. v. Texas, 212 U. S. 86, 212 U. S. 111-112 (1909). See also St. Louis I. M. & S. R. Co. v. Williams, 251 U. S. 63, 251 U. S. 66-67 (1919). If a corporation is protected by the Due Process Clause from overbearing and oppressive monetary sanctions, it is also protected from such penalties by the Excessive Fines Clause. See Whitney Stores, Inc. v. Summerford, 280 F. Supp. 406, 411 (SC) (three-judge court) (entertaining Eighth Amendment challenge by corporation to fine for violation of Sunday closing laws), summarily aff'd, 393 U. S. 9 (1968).
ante at 492 U. S. 262-263, and n. 3, that language is not dispositive here.
"[T]his Court has no appellate jurisdiction to revise the sentences of inferior courts in criminal cases, and cannot, even if the excess of the fine were apparent on the record, reverse the sentence."
Id. at 32 U. S. 574. There is another reason not to rely on or be guided by the sweeping statements in Ingraham and Ex parte Watkins. Those statements are inconsistent with the Court's application of the Excessive Bail Clause of the Eighth Amendment to civil proceedings in Carlson v. Landon, 342 U. S. 524, 342 U. S. 544-546 (1952) (immigration and deportation). See United States v. Salerno, 481 U. S. 739, 481 U. S. 754 (1987) (recognizing that Carlson "was a civil case"). In sum, none of the Court's precedents foreclose application of the Excessive Fines Clause to punitive damages.
The history of the Excessive Fines Clause has been thoroughly canvassed in several recent articles, all of which conclude that the Clause is applicable to punitive damages. See Boston, Punitive Damages and the Eighth Amendment: Application of the Excessive Fines Clause, 5 Cooley L.Rev.
667 (1988) (Boston); Massey, The Excessive Fines Clause and Punitive Damages: Some Lessons from History, 40 Vand.L.Rev. 1233 (1987) (Massey); Jeffries, A Comment on the Constitutionality of Punitive Damages, 72 Va.L.Rev. 139 (1986) (Jeffries); Note, The Constitutionality of Punitive Damages Under the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment, 85 Mich.L.Rev. 1699 (1987) (Note). In my view, a chronological account of the Clause and its antecedents demonstrates that the Clause derives from limitations in English law on monetary penalties exacted in civil and criminal cases to punish and deter misconduct. History aside, this Court's cases leave no doubt that punitive damages serve the same purposes -- punishment and deterrence -- as the criminal law, and that excessive punitive damages present precisely the evil of exorbitant monetary penalties that the Clause was designed to prevent.
a feudal lord. Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U. S. 510, 273 U. S. 525 (1927); Massey 1252-1253, and n. 111. But cf. R. Stringham, Magna Carta: Fountainhead of Freedom 40 (1966) (a share of the amercement went to the victim or the victim's family). Because the amercement originated at a time when there was little distinction between criminal law and tort law, it was "neither strictly a civil nor a criminal sanction." Note, at 1716. Blackstone, however, clearly thought that amercements were civil punishments. See 4 W. Blackstone, Commentaries *372 ("amercements for misbehaviour in matters of civil right"). As one commentator has noted, the "amercement was assessed most commonly as a civil sanction for wrongfully bringing or defending a civil lawsuit." Massey 1251. The list of conduct meriting amercement was voluminous: trespass, improper or false pleading, default, failure to appear, economic wrongs, torts, and crimes. See generally Beecher's Case, 8 Co.Rep. 58a, 59b-61b, 77 Eng.Rep. 559, 564-567 (Ex.1609).
the Church shall be amerced after the quantity of his spiritual Benefice, but after his Lay-tenement, and after the quantity of his offence."
(Numbers omitted.) After Magna Carta, the amount of an amercement was initially set by the court. A group of the amerced party's peers would then be assembled to reduce the amercement in accordance with the party's ability to pay. McKechnie 288-289. For example, in Le Gras v. Bailiff of Bishop of Winchester, Y.B.Mich. 10 Edw. II, pl. 4 (C.P. 1316), reprinted in 52 Publications of the Selden Society 3, 5 (1934), an amercement for improper civil pleading was vacated, and the bailiff who had imposed the amercement was ordered to "take a moderate amercement proper to the magnitude and manner of that offence." See also Granucci, "Nor Cruel and Unusual Punishments Inflicted:" The Original Meaning, 57 Calif.L.Rev. 839, 845-846 (1969) (Granucci) (listing other examples of amercements that were reduced or set aside).
Fines and amercements had very similar functions. Fines originated in the 13th century as voluntary sums paid to the Crown to avoid an indefinite prison sentence for a common law crime or to avoid royal displeasure. 2 Pollock & Maitland 517; Massey 1261. The fine operated as a substitute for imprisonment. Having no actual power to impose a fine, the court would sentence the wrongdoer to prison.
"To avoid imprisonment, the wrongdoer would then 'make fine' by 'voluntarily' contracting with the Crown to pay money, thereby ending the matter. The Crown gradually eliminated the voluntary nature of the fine by imposing indefinite sentences upon wrongdoers who effectively would be forced to pay the fine. Once the fine was no longer voluntary, it became the equivalent of an amercement."
Note, at 1715. See also Boston 719-720. Although in theory fines were voluntary, while amercements were not, the purpose of the two penalties was equivalent, and it is not surprising that, in practice, it became difficult to distinguish the two.
"I have an interest in your hate's proceeding,"
"My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding;"
"But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine,"
"That you shall all repent the loss of mine."
L. Schwoerer, The Declaration of Rights, 1689, pp. 3033, 91-92 (1981) (Schwoerer). The committee ultimately reported 13 Articles to the House of Commons. The final draft of Article 10 provided that "excessive Baile ought not to be required, nor excessive Fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted." 1 Wm. & Mary, 2d Sess., ch. 2, 3 Stat. at Large 440, 441 (1689).
According to Blackstone, the English Bill of Rights was "only declaratory . . . of the old constitutional law." 4 W. Blackstone, Commentaries *372. See also Schwoerer 92 (excessive fines provision of Article 10 "reaffirmed ancient law"). Of course, the only prohibition on excessive monetary penalties predating Article 10 was contained in Magna Carta.
"Since it incorporated the earlier prohibition against excessive amercements -- which could arise in civil settings -- as well as other forms of punishment, [Article 10's limitation on excessive fines] cannot be limited to strictly criminal cases, but extends to monetary sanctions imposed in both criminal and civil contexts."
Note, at 1717. Because the word "amercement" had dropped out of ordinary usage by the late 17th century, it appears that the word "fine" in Article 10 was simply shorthand for all monetary penalties, "whether imposed by judge or jury, in both civil and criminal proceedings." Massey 1256. Indeed, three months after the adoption of the English Bill of Rights, the House of Lords reversed a fine by referring to Magna Carta, and not to Article 10. See Earl of Devonshire's Case, 11 State Tr. 1367, 1372 (H.L. 1689) (ruling that "fine" of £30,000 for striking another was "excessive and exorbitant, against Magna Charta, the common right of the subject, and the law of the land").
simply recalls the historical accident that, prior to the mid-18th century, monetary sanctions filled the coffers of the King and his barons.
"[i]t was only after the prevalence of the amercement had diminished that the cases began to report the award of punitive damages as a common law entitlement."
"[A] jury have it in their power to give damages for more than the injury received. Damages are designed not only as satisfaction to the injured person, but likewise as a punishment to the guilty, to deter from any such proceeding for the future, and as a proof of the detestation of the jury to the action itself."
The link between the gradual disappearance of the amercement and the emergence of punitive damages provides strong historical support for applying the Excessive Fines Clause to awards of punitive damages. See Boston 728-732.
damages and amercements. See ante at 492 U. S. 265, n. 7, 270, n. 13. The damages referred to in those commentaries are compensatory, and not punitive, in nature. See, e.g., Introduction to the Curia Regis Rolls, 1199-1230 A.D., in 62 Publications of the Selden Society 463 (C. Flower ed.1944) (damages "represented the loss incurred by a litigant through an unlawful act") (emphasis added). Amercements and fines were not meant to compensate the injured plaintiff, but rather to punish the wrongdoer and express society's displeasure at the improper act. Compensatory damages, even in Saxon England, had not been limited by Magna Carta, which was meant to ensure that monetary penalties, assessed in addition to compensatory sums, have some measure of proportionality.
amount to a greater punishment than would be likely to be incurred if the conduct were criminal . . . . I should not allow the respect which is traditionally paid to an assessment of damages by a jury to prevent me from seeing that the weapon is used without restraint."
"It may even be that the House [of Lords] may find it necessary to . . . place some arbitrary limit on awards of damages that are made by way of punishment. Exhortations to be moderate may not be enough."
There was little debate over the Eighth Amendment in the First Congress, and no discussion of the Excessive Fines Clause. Consideration of the Eighth Amendment immediately followed consideration of the Fifth Amendment. After deciding to confine the benefits of the Self-Incrimination Clause of the Fifth Amendment to criminal proceedings, the Framers turned their attention to the Eighth Amendment. There were no proposals to limit that Amendment to criminal proceedings, and the only discussion was by Mr. Smith of South Carolina and Mr. Livermore of New Hampshire, both of whom though that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause was too indefinite. See Grannuci 842; Weems v. United States, 217 U. S. 349, 217 U. S. 368-369 (1910). Exactly what significance the silence of the Framers has in constitutional interpretation is open to debate, compare, e.g., L. Tribe, Constitutional Choices 42-44 (1985), with, e.g., Powell, Rules for Originalists, 73 Va.L.Rev. 659, 671-672 (1987), but it is not necessary to address that issue here. The Eighth Amendment was based directly on Article I, §9, of the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, which had in turn adopted verbatim the language of §10 of the English Bill of Rights. "There can be no doubt that the Declaration of Rights guaranteed at least the liberties and privileges of Englishmen."
Solem v. Helm, 463 U. S. 277, 463 U. S. 285-286, n. 10 (1983). See also A. Howard, The Road from Runnymede: Magna Carta and Constitutionalism in America 205-207 (1968) (Howard). If anything is apparent from the history set forth above, it is that a monetary penalty in England could be excessive, and that there is a strong link between amercements, which were assessed in civil cases, and fines. Cf. Solem, 463 U.S. at 463 U. S. 284, n. 8 (an "amercement was similar to a modern-day fine"). There is, in short, considerable historical support for application of the Excessive Fines Clause to punitive damages.
private party, and not a governmental entity. Boston 714. In 1646, the Massachusetts General Court ruled that § 37 of the Body of Liberties was based directly on Chapter 20 of Magna Carta. Howard 401, 404.
"inflicted by sentence of a court in the exercise of criminal jurisdiction . . . as appears by most of the dictionaries of our language, where it is defined not only as a pecuniary punishment, but also as a forfeiture, a penalty, [etc.]."
"The terms fine, forfeiture, and penalty, are often used loosely, and even confusedly . . . . A fine is a pecuniary penalty, and is commonly (perhaps always) to be collected by suit in some form. A 'forfeiture' is a penalty by which one loses his rights and interest in his property."
commentators believed that the word "fine" encompassed civil penalties.
In my view, the $6 million award of punitive damages imposed on BFI constitutes a fine subject to the limitations of the Eighth Amendment. In current usage, the word "fine" comprehends a forfeiture or penalty recoverable in a civil action. See Black's Law Dictionary 569 (5th ed. 1979); Webster's Third New International Dictionary 852 (1971). Not only is that understanding supported by the history set forth above, it is buttressed by this Court's precedents. Punitive damages are "private fines levied by civil juries." Electrical Workers v. Foust, 442 U. S. 42, 442 U. S. 48 (1979) (emphasis added). They are not awarded to compensate for injury, but rather to further the aims of the criminal law: "to punish reprehensible conduct and to deter its future occurrence.'" Bankers Life & Casualty Co., 486 U.S. at 486 U. S. 87 (O'CONNOR, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). See also Restatement (Second) of Torts § 908(1) (1979). Their role therefore "runs counter to the normal reparative function of tort and contract remedies." K. Redden, Punitive Damages §2.1, p. 24 (1980). The Court's cases abound with the recognition of the penal nature of punitive damages. See Tull v. United States, 481 U. S. 412, 481 U. S. 422, and n. 7 (1987); Memphis Community School District v. Stachura, 477 U. S. 299, 477 U. S. 306, n. 9 (1986); Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Corp., 464 U. S. 238, 464 U. S. 260-261 (1984) (BLACKMUN, J., dissenting); Smith v. Wade, 461 U. S. 30, 461 U. S. 59 (1983) (REHNQUIST, J., dissenting); Newport v. Fact Concerts, Inc., 453 U. S. 247, 453 U. S. 266-267 (1981); Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U. S. 323, 418 U. S. 350 (1974); Rosenbloom v. Metromedia, Inc., 403 U. S. 29, 403 U. S. 82 (1971) (MARSHALL, J., dissenting); Lake Shore & M. S. R. Co. v. Prentice, 147 U. S. 101, 147 U. S. 107 (1893).
even more support for the applicability of the Clause. In determining whether a sanction is penal, the Court has generally looked to several factors: (1) whether it involves an affirmative disability; (2) whether it has historically been regarded as punishment; (3) whether it comes into play on a finding of scienter; (4) whether its operation will promote retribution and deterrence; (5) whether the behavior to which it applies is already a crime; (6) whether there is an alternative purpose for it; and (7) whether it is excessive in relation to the alternative purpose assigned. Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U. S. 144, 372 U. S. 168-169 (1963). I agree with those commentators who have found it easy to conclude that punitive damages are penal under the Mendoza-Martinez factors. See, e.g., Grass, The Penal Dimensions of Punitive Damages, 12 Hastings L.Q. 241 (1985).
"a civil sanction that cannot fairly be said solely to serve a remedial purpose, but rather can be explained only as also serving either retributive or deterrent purposes, is punishment."
the Excessive Fines Clause will place some limits on awards of punitive damages that are recovered by a governmental entity. See, e.g., Fla.Stat. § 768.73(2)(b) (1987) (60% of any award of punitive damages is payable to the State).
"The additional damages being by way of punishment, . . . it is not a valid objection that the sufferer, instead of the State, receives them. . . . The power of the State to impose fines and penalties for a violation of its statutory requirements is coeval with government; and the mode in which they shall be enforced, whether at the suit of a private party or at the suit of the public, and what disposition shall be made of the amounts collected, are merely matters of legislative discretion."
The only remaining question is whether the award of over $6 million in this case is "excessive" within the meaning of the Eighth Amendment.
"quantum, in particular, of pecuniary fines neither can, nor ought to be, ascertained by any invariable law. The value of money itself changes from a thousand causes; and at all events, what is ruin to one man's fortune, may be a matter of indifference to another's."
4 W. Blackstone, Commentaries *371.
manner. First, the reviewing court must accord "substantial deference" to legislative judgments concerning appropriate sanctions for the conduct at issue. Second, the court should examine the gravity of the defendant's conduct and the harshness of the award of punitive damages. Third, because punitive damages are penal in nature, the court should compare the civil and criminal penalties imposed in the same jurisdiction for different types of conduct, and the civil and criminal penalties imposed by different jurisdictions for the same or similar conduct. In identifying the relevant civil penalties, the court should consider not only the amount of awards of punitive damages, but also statutory civil sanctions. In identifying the relevant criminal penalties, the court should consider not only the possible monetary sanctions, but also any possible prison term.
The Court of Appeals did not think that the Excessive Fines Clause applied to awards of punitive damages, 845 F. 2d at 410, and therefore did not conduct any sort of proportionality analysis. I would remand the case to the Court of Appeals so that it could, in the first instance, apply the Solem framework set forth above and determine whether the award of over $6 million imposed on BFI violates the Excessive Fines Clause.

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