Tanner v. Ebbole’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““When substantial punitive damages are awarded in a case with only nominal compensatory damages, the ratio will invariably far exceed a single-digit ratio. Although the issue has not been addressed in Alabama, many other courts have struggled with applying the ratio or ‘proportionality’ guidepost of Gore when only nominal compensatory damages have been awarded. See Arnold v. Wilder, 657 F.3d 353, 370 (6th Cir.2011) (stating that the ‘ “Supreme Court’s cases on the ratio component of the ex-cessiveness inquiry — which involved substantial compensatory damages awards for economic and measurable noneconomic harm — are ... of limited relevance” in § 1983 cases where “the basis for the punitive damages award was the plaintiffs unlawful arrest and the plaintiffs economic injury was so minimal as to be essentially nominal” ’ (quoting Romanski v. Detroit Entm’t, L.L.C., 428 F.3d 629 , 645 (6th Cir.2005))); Mendez v. County of San Bernardino, 540 F.3d 1109, 1121 (9th Cir.2008) (upholding a 125,000-to-l ratio in a § 1983 case and concluding that ‘[r]a-tios in excess of single digits in § 1983 suits ... will not generally violate due process when the victim suffers no com-pensable injury’); Abner v. Kansas City Southern R.R., 513 F.3d 154, 164 (5th Cir.2008) (upholding a punitive-damages award of $125,000 for each plaintiff in a Title VTI racial-discrimination case when the jury awarded each plaintiff $1 in nominal damages and stating that, ‘as we have found in punitive damages cases wi”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Engineered Cooling Services, Inc. v. Star Service, Inc. of Mobile

2. ““The Gore guideposts are: ‘(1) the degree of reprehensibility of the defendant’s misconduct; (2) the disparity between the actual or potential harm suffered by the plaintiff and the punitive damages award; and (3) the difference between the punitive damages awarded by the jury and the civil penalties authorized or imposed in comparable cases.’ State Farm [Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell], 538 U.S. [408] at 418 [(2003)] (citing Gore, 517 U.S. at 575 ). The Hammond-Green Oil factors are: “ ‘ “(1) the reprehensibility of [the defendant’s] conduct; (2) the relationship of the punitive-damages award to the harm that actually occurred, or is likely to occur, from [the defendant’s] conduct; (3) [the defendant’s] profit from [his] misconduct; (4) [the defendant’s] financial position; (5) the cost to [the plaintiff] of the litigation; (6) whether [the defendant] has been subject to criminal sanctions for similar conduct; and (7) other civil actions [the defendant] has been involved in arising out of similar conduct.” ’ “Ross v. Rosen-Rager, 67 So.3d 29, 41-42 (Ala.2010) (quoting Shiv-Ram, Inc. v. McCaleb, 892 So.2d 299, 317 (Ala.2003) (paraphrasing the Hammond-Green Oil factors)).””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Pensacola Motor Sales, Inc. v. Daphne Automotive, LLC

3. ““low awards of compensatory damages may properly support a higher ratio than high compensatory awards, if, for example, a particularly egregious act has resulted in only a small amount of economic damages. A higher ratio may also be justified in cases in which the injury is hard to detect or the monetary value of noneconomic harm might have been difficult to determine.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Engineered Cooling Services, Inc. v. Star Service, Inc. of Mobile