Professor Sheila B. Scheuerman of the Charleston School of Law has written an essay, posted here on the site of Cornell Law Review’s Legal Workshop, responding to an article by Professor Dan Markel of the Florida State University College of Law. Prof. Markel’s article, mentioned in a few previous posts on this site, proposed that states move away from the current system of punitive damages and adopt an alternate system which he calls “retributive damages.”

On the Torts Prof Blog, Prof. Scheuerman summaries her critque of Prof. Markel’s proposal:

First, can the “retributive damages” model properly be considered punitive
damages? Second, do “retributive damages” avoid the doctrinal problems that have
plagued punitive damages for decades? In my view, the answer to both questions
is “no.”