“With the Gore factors in equipoise, we look to punitive damages rulings in factually similar cases.”
How later courts described this case
- “With the Gore factors in equipoise, we look to punitive damages rulings in factually similar cases.”
- $30 compensatory damages award when plaintiff suffered two fractured ribs and a dislocated elbow
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. I would affirm the district court’s JMOL setting aside the jury verdict. Furthermore, I respectfully dissent from the affirmance of punitive damages. There is nothing more here than, at most an excessive force violation of the Eighth Amendment. There is no evidence to support punitive damages beyond the evidence that supports the bare Eighth Amendment claim. Finally, I respectfully dissent from the affirmance of an award 117 times greater than actual damages.