State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell

Although investigators and witnesses concluded that Curtis Campbell caused an accident in which one person was killed and another permanently disabled, his insurer, petitioner State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, contested liability, declined to settle the ensuing claims for the $ 50,000 policy limit, ignored its own investigators' advice, and took the case to trial, assuring Campbell and his wife that they had no liability for the accident, that State Farm would represent their interests, and that they did not need separate counsel. In fact, a Utah jury returned a judgment for over three times the policy limit, and State Farm refused to appeal.

A punitive damages award of $ 145 million, where full compensatory damages are $ 1 million, is excessive and violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

Damages | Punitive Damages