Opinion ID: 730824
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Comparison to Civil or Criminal Penalties for Comparable Misconduct

Text: 33 When penalties for comparable misconduct are much slighter than a punitive damages award, it may be said that the tortfeasor lacked fair notice that the wrongful conduct could entail a substantial punitive award. See Gore, --- U.S. at ----, 116 S.Ct. at 1603; Patton v. TIC United Corp., 77 F.3d 1235, 1244 (10th Cir.1996). 34 According to Lee, Edwards' conduct could have exposed him to a charge of making a false statement, a class A misdemeanor. See Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. § 53a-157 (West Supp.1996). If Edwards were convicted of that offense, he would have faced imprisonment of up to one year, and/or a fine of up to $2,000. Id. §§ 53a-36, 53a-42 (West 1994). A year's imprisonment is certainly a serious sanction, although the maximum fine of $2,000 gives little warning that the offense could entail a $200,000 civil award. 35 If anything, we believe that the civil and criminal penalties understate the notice, because the misconduct at issue here was committed by a police officer. We will assume that Edwards' training as a police officer gave him notice as to the gravity of misconduct under color of his official authority, as well as notice that such misconduct could hinder his career. At the same time, although Edwards did have some notice as to the gravity of his conduct, nothing could conceivably have prepared him for a punitive damage award amounting to the sacrifice of the better part of a policeman's after-tax pay for a decade. 36 Examining the three Gore factors together, we see circumstances that might support a substantial punitive damage award. First, Edwards brought to bear against Lee the weight of Edwards' official position, acted maliciously, and had previously engaged in analogous misconduct--enough to indicate a degree of reprehensibility. Second, the nominal compensatory damage award renders the use of a ratio to limit punitive damages ineffective. Third, although the criminal and civil penalties for comparable conduct are middling, Edwards' training as a police officer provided him with some notice of the gravity of his conduct. 37 In short, we believe that the reprehensibility of Edwards' conduct and the extent to which he had notice of potential penalties support the award of a substantial multiple, but we conclude that the district court exceeded its discretion in thinking that these factors support the magnitude of the award on the malicious prosecution claim in this case. We now turn to other police misconduct cases for assistance in determining the proper remittitur.