Opinion ID: 2796489
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Federal Due Process Review

Text: An award of punitive damages implicates rights that are guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. See BMW of N. Am., Inc. v. Gore, 517 U.S. 559, 562 (1996) (“The Due Process Clause of its own force . . . prohibits the States from imposing ‘grossly excessive’ punishments on tortfeasors.”). “[T]he question whether a punitive damages award is constitutionally excessive calls for the application of a constitutional standard to the facts of a particular case, and in this context de novo review of that question is appropriate.” Cooper Indus., 532 U.S. at 435 (quoting United States v. Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321, 336-37 (1983)).