Opinion ID: 1693449
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ratio between the penalty to the actual harm to Courtney

Text: ¶ 71. As for the ratio between the penalty to the actual harm to Courtney, there is a 14.5 to 1 ratio. However, the Bank claims that Courtney was not harmed because the proceeds of the auction were applied to the debt. Further, the Bank appears to claim that even applying the proceeds to the debt owed by Courtney, there is still a $17,000 deficiency. Therefore, the debt owed was simply reduced by the Bank's actions, and Courtney was not harmed by these actions. ¶ 72, In Campbell, the Court declined to impose a bright line ratio which a punitive damage award may not exceed. Campbell, 538 U.S. at 425, 123 S.Ct. at 1524. However, the Court held further that [s]ingle-digit multipliers are more likely to comport with due process and still maintain a State's objective of deterrence and retribution rather than awards with much higher ratios such as 500 to 1. Id. The original punitive damages awarded by the jury had a ratio of 14.5 to 1, that being, $5,000,000 in punitive damages to $345,000 in compensatory damages. This ratio was reduced by the trial court remittitur of the punitive damages award to $1,500,000, thus reducing the ratio to 4.3 to 1. The Bank notes that Courtney was not harmed by applying the proceeds of the auction to his debt, forgetting that in the process of possessing, selling, returning equipment at a later date and not returning some equipment at all, that he went out of business. The ratio in the case sub judice after remittitur is a single digit multiplier and is not inconsistent with the Campbell decision on this point.