Opinion ID: 1597299
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Punitive Damages and Two or More Defendants

Text: However, in my opinion, the procedure for assessing punitive damages in Alabama, when there is more than one defendant, violates the guarantee of procedural due process under the United States and Alabama Constitutions, regardless of the amount of the award. [T]o punish the guilty beyond their guilt is not different from punishment of the innocent, and it cannot be done in a manner consistent with ordinary notions of justice. Dan B. Dobbs, Ending Punishment in `Punitive' Damages: Deterrence-Measured Remedies, 40 Ala.L.Rev. 831, 854 (1989). When we do not punish based upon the particular wrong of a particular defendant, that defendant does not receive due process; and government is not protecting the citizen in the enjoyment of his property, when there is no life, liberty, or property interest of a plaintiff or any other citizen involved. To me, this violates the sole object and only legitimate end of government. Art. I, § 35, Alabama Constitution of 1901.