Opinion ID: 1138293
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Profitability to the defendant.

Text: We have stated that the purpose of punitive damages is twofold: to punish the wrongdoer and to deter the wrongdoer and others from committing similar wrongs in the future. Green Oil, 539 So.2d at 222. Accordingly, punitive damages should generally exceed the amount of profit created by the defendant's misconduct, so that the defendant recognizes a loss. See Gore, supra. During closing arguments, the plaintiff's counsel asked the jury to award $17 million in punitive damages, an amount he contended Independent Life had received in premiums on the type of policies at issue during one year. The trial court noted in its Hammond order that, by its own calculations, Independent Life had received approximately $7 million per year in premiums on the policies at issue and that if that figure was multiplied by the number of years since 1975, when Casey purchased her policy, even if the jury's entire award was considered to be punitive damages the award would not be excessive. On appeal, Independent Life asserts that the profit it makes on its policies is actually much less than the amount of premiums it receives, claiming that it makes only seven cents of profit for each premium dollar it receives. Further, Independent Life contends that an internal study has revealed that with regard to policyholders age 65 or older it actually lost money on the type of policies at issue. Thus, Independent Life argues that the punitive damages award is highly excessive. In this case, we find neither the trial court's, nor Independent Life's, profitability calculus to be helpful. The profit to Independent Life from its fraudulent suppression of facts relating to the termination provision on the policies at question was derived from not having refunded premiums paid by policyholders after reaching age 65 and in not having paid claims by policyholders over age 65 who, like Casey, did not file a claim because they believed their policies had terminated. The amount of those potential claims is unknown and cannot be calculated from the data presented at trial or during the Hammond hearing. Thus, we note that while Independent Life did profit by its misconduct, the record contains insufficient information for us to determine whether the size of that profit weighs for or against a remittitur of the punitive damages award.