Opinion ID: 2546274
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendant convicted of a felony

Text: Section 510.265 also exempts from the punitive damages cap cases in which the defendant pleads guilty to or is convicted of a felony arising out of the acts or omissions pled by the plaintiff. § 510.265. Plaintiffs of course recognize that those whose conduct was sufficiently egregious to constitute a felony are especially culpable and that a higher punitive damage award may be justified. Their argument is that this exemption is too narrow, as there may be others who could have been convicted of a felony but simply were not prosecuted. Plaintiffs believe that Mr. Franklin's conduct could fall into that category and that there is no rational basis to differentiate among such defendants. The legislature rationally could conclude that the state has limited resources and that prosecutors, therefore, will choose to bring felony charges in the most serious cases. While there may be some additional cases in which such charges could have been brought, relying on the choice of public authorities to bring charges and the finding of a jury beyond a reasonable doubt or the admission of a defendant in pleading guilty that the defendant, in fact, has committed the alleged egregious conduct is a rational basis on which the legislature could have chosen to categorize degrees of reprehensibility. The choice of the prosecutor to bring an action does not bar a plaintiff from coming into court but merely determines which cases are so reprehensible that they may justify an award greater than that the legislators otherwise believe to be the limit available to comport with due process. The reprehensibility of the defendant's conduct is a key factor in determining the amount of punitive damages to which a plaintiff is entitled. See State Farm, 538 U.S. at 419, 123 S.Ct. 1513. The legislature rationally could conclude that civil suits based on felonious criminal conduct warrant an exemption from the punitive cap because of the exceptional reprehensibility of the defendant's conduct.