Opinion ID: 1154788
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Imposition of Punitive Damages Violated Ciba-Geigy's Right to Due Process Under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Text: In Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Haslip, 499 U.S. 1, 111 S.Ct. 1032, 113 L.Ed.2d 1 (1991), which was decided while post-trial motions were pending in the present case, the United States Supreme Court expressed some reservation over the constitutionality of Mississippi's punitive damage procedure. In Haslip, the Court was looking at the Alabama system for awarding punitive damages. Subsequently, in Ivy v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 612 So.2d 1108, 1115-6 (Miss. 1992), this Court revisited the issue of the constitutionality of Mississippi's system for awarding punitive damages and rejected the idea that this state's system is unconstitutional. In making its comments in Haslip, the Supreme Court apparently had some misconceptions about Mississippi law which led to their unwarranted concerns. There is no merit to this issue.