TQ 7.1: What types of losses can plaintiffs recover as compensatory damages?
TQ 7.2: Describe a case (real or made up) in which an injured plaintiff would be able to establish duty, breach, actual and proximate causation but could not establish significant compensatory damages.
TQ 7.3: In Philip Morris USA v. Williams, did the Supreme Court rule that juries may never consider evidence of harm to others in deciding whether to award punitive damages? If not, explain how a jury could consider evidence of harm to others without violating the defendant’s constitutional rights.
DQ 7.1: Assume that a defendant’s negligent conduct results in severe injuries to a 19-year-old college student who has no dependents, lots of debt, and a part-time minimum wage job at a fast food restaurant. The student was pre-med and aspired to be a neurosurgeon, but her injuries are so severe that she may never be able to hold a full-time job. If you were her lawyer, how would you propose to calculate her damages? What if you were the defendant’s lawyer? In your secondary posts to this thread, discuss how you would evaluate the various arguments proposed if you were a member of the jury.
DQ 7.2: Would you support a change in the law to cap punitive damages at three times the amount of compensatory damages? Why or why not?
