Also known as: grossly excessive award · grossly excessive damages · grossly excessive fine · grossly excessive punishment · excessive fines · punitive damages ratio
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A sanction or award so disproportionate to the gravity of the conduct or harm inflicted that it violates constitutional limits on excessive fines and punishments.
Intoxication so excessive in degree relative to the amount consumed that the actor is unaware of his susceptibility.
A sanction or award so disproportionate to the gravity of the conduct or harm inflicted that it violates constitutional limits on excessive fines and punishments.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Intoxication so excessive in degree relative to the amount consumed that the actor is unaware of his susceptibility.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Jordan, a bank teller with no assets, was convicted of small-scale fraud involving a $4,200 shortage. The court imposed a $265,000 fine that exceeded her annual income by twelve times and converted any unpaid balance into indefinite confinement. The fine's size relative to the offense and Jordan's circumstances rendered it grossly excessive.
Dr. Ira Gore purchased a new car from BMW of North America that had been repainted after acid rain damage without disclosure. A jury awarded $4,000 in compensatory damages and $2 million in punitive damages after reduction on appeal. The punitive amount bore no reasonable relationship to the harm and was therefore grossly excessive.
Members of Westboro Baptist Church picketed a soldier's funeral with signs containing hyperbolic messages on matters of public concern. A jury awarded millions in compensatory and punitive damages to the soldier's father for emotional distress. The award was reversed because the speech was protected by the First Amendment.
Evan Miller, a fourteen-year-old, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life without parole under a state statute that imposed the penalty automatically. The sentence applied without regard to his age or the circumstances of the crime. Because it was grossly excessive for a juvenile offender, the punishment violated constitutional limits.
Helm was convicted of a seventh nonviolent felony and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole under a recidivist statute. His underlying crimes were minor and passive, yet the sentence was the most severe the state could impose. The punishment was grossly excessive in relation to the offense and therefore unconstitutional.
Christopher Simmons was convicted of murder committed when he was seventeen and sentenced to death. The sentence treated a juvenile offender the same as an adult despite reduced culpability associated with age. The punishment was grossly excessive and therefore barred by the Eighth Amendment.
Courts apply three guideposts under the Due Process Clause: the reprehensibility of the defendant's conduct, the ratio between compensatory and punitive damages, and the disparity between the punitive award and authorized civil or criminal penalties.
Supporting sources
Yes. A fine that is grossly disproportionate to the offense and the defendant's ability to pay violates the Excessive Fines Clause regardless of a deterrence rationale.
Supporting sources
No. Courts must weigh all three guideposts together. A high ratio raises concern but is not dispositive without considering reprehensibility and comparable penalties.
Supporting sources
Pathological intoxication is defined as intoxication grossly excessive in degree given the amount consumed and to which the actor was unaware of susceptibility. It can supply an affirmative defense when it negates the required mental state.
Supporting sources
…substantive due process limit. Pp. 562–586. (a) The Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause prohibits a State from imposing a grossly excessive punishment on a tortfeasor. Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip , 499 U. S. 1; TXO Production Corp. v. Alliance Resources Corp. , 509 U. S. 443. The Haslip and TXO decisions establish three…