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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Personal Injury and Med Mal

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Monday, September 30, 2024

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$197.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE webinar will offer guidance for proving or defending punitive damages in personal injury cases. The panel will also address the current trend of plaintiffs' attorneys to seek and juries to award massive pain and suffering as a stand-in for punitive damages.

Faculty

Kathryn Lehman
Partner
King & Spalding LLP

Ms. Lehman is a member of the Tort Litigation and Environmental Group. She has experience in individual plaintiff actions as well as mass tort actions. Ms. Lehman has represented a wide range of public entities as well as private entities in the medical, food service and transportation industries.

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Wendy D. Testa
Partner
Wilson Elser, LLP

Ms. Testa is a co-chair of the firm’s Complex Tort & General Casualty and Design Professional practices. She focuses her legal practice on risk management services, defense and insurance coverage litigation in the areas of professional liability, including architects/engineers, brokers/agents and accountants; construction/construction defect; product liability; transportation/trucking; and contract drafting, negotiating and risk transfer disputes.

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Description

Punitive damages are intended to punish the defendant for outrageous, willful, or wanton conduct and to deter the defendant and others from engaging in similar conduct in the future. Plaintiffs must carefully weigh the costs and benefits of seeking punitive damages, including whether punitive damages are insurable or collectible. Punitive damage awards are often appealed, so all parties must be prepared for the long haul.

Punitive damages strategies will vary depending on how the jurisdiction addresses them. Currently, a majority of states have no statutory caps on punitive damages; some states prohibit punitive damages; others tie the amount to the amount of compensatory damages; and a few require that most of the award be paid to the state itself.

Many plaintiffs attempt to get juries to factor the defendant's conduct into awards for economic and non-economic awards like pain and suffering. With little guidance about when such awards are unreasonable, they are often difficult to reduce on appeal.

Listen as this panel offers guidance about how personal injury lawyers approach proving or defending both explicit demands for punitive damages and requests that jurors fold such arguments into requests for non-economic damages.

Outline

  1. Statutory requirements and limits
  2. Evidentiary standards and burdens of proof
  3. Key considerations that motivate punitive damages
  4. Defenses
  5. Trial strategies
    1. Bifurcation
    2. Discovery
    3. Voir dire
    4. Pre-trial motions
    5. Arguing the amount of punitive damages
    6. Instructions
  6. Issues on appeal

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issue:

  • How do plaintiffs urge the jury to "punish" the defendant through compensatory damages?
  • Are punitive damages insurable?
  • How does the status or perceived wealth of defendants affect an award of punitive damages and how is the award determined in various jurisdictions?
  • What is being done to combat extreme punitive damages awards and how can a claim for punitive damages be defended effectively?