Opinion ID: 184616
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Sunmatch's Challenge to the Award of Damages

Text: 60 The jury awarded MSI $50,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages for Sunmatch's breach of fiduciary duty. Sunmatch argues that the district court should have granted it judgment as a matter of law with respect to the award of damages. In the alternative, Sunmatch contends that the district court abused its discretion in failing to grant remittitur of the damages.
61 As noted above, we review de novo an order denying judgment as a matter of law; thus, we ask here whether there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to have awarded compensatory or punitive damages. With respect to the latter, Sunmatch argues that no reasonable jury could conclude that Sunmatch's actions were wanton, malicious, or criminally indifferent because it reasonably believed that under the Agreement it could make private label sales. As we have seen, however, under MSI's theory [331 U.S.App.D.C. 53] of breach of fiduciary duty it does not matter whether the Agreement allowed Sunmatch to sell private label tools. The Agreement gave MSI the exclusive right to represent and sell[SUNTECH tools] in North America and Hawaii. A reasonable jury could have concluded based upon the evidence presented at trial that MSI maliciously used the SUNTECH trademark in that territory--which it must have known it had no right to do--specifically in order to divert sales from MSI to itself. Accordingly, Sunmatch was not entitled as a matter of law to a judgment vacating the jury's award of punitive damages. 62 With respect to the compensatory damages, Sunmatch argues that the $50,000 award must derive from MSI's claim that it spent $46,000 to replace eight sales representatives, that most of that sum went to pay salaried MSI employees to find replacement representatives, and that MSI would have incurred this expense in any event. There is no reason, however, to tie the $50,000 figure to MSI's claim for time spent replacing sales representatives just because the amounts are similar. MSI claimed and put on evidence of other damages as well--for interest charges incurred to carry excess inventory, and for lost profits and goodwill. Because a reasonable jury surely could have awarded MSI $50,000 in compensatory damages we reject Sunmatch's argument for judgment as a matter of law.
63 In the alternative, Sunmatch argues that the district court abused its discretion in declining to remit the jury's award of compensatory and punitive damages. See, e.g., Hooks v. Washington Sheraton Corp., 578 F.2d 313, 316 (D.C.Cir.1977). Sunmatch's claim for remittitur of the compensatory damages appears to be the same as its claim for judgment as a matter of law, which we have already rejected. Sunmatch argues that the punitive damages should be reduced because they are excessive. On the contrary, precedent establishes that the punitive damages are not excessive in relation to the harm to MSI. See Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U.S. 1, 23-24, 111 S.Ct. 1032, 113 L.Ed.2d 1 (1991) (upholding award of punitive damages which were four times the amount of compensatory damages); cf. BMW of North Am., Inc. v. Gore, 517 U.S. 559, 582, 585-86, 116 S.Ct. 1589, 134 L.Ed.2d 809 (1996) (finding punitive damages of 500 times amount of actual harm to be constitutionally excessive). Therefore, we will not set aside or reduce the award.