California Punitives by Horvitz & Levy
  • Supreme Court calls for response to cert. petition raising punitive damages issues (Quicken Loans v. Brown)

    The Supreme Court has asked the plaintiffs to respond to the cert. petition filed by Quicken Loans in Quicken Loans v. Brown.  As we noted a few weeks ago, the cert. petition raises the following issues:

    1.  Whether a state court may evade its obligation to apply the United States Constitution and this Court’s cases by asserting that expressly and pervasively raised federal constitutional claims were purported waived.

    2.  Whether, in applying the punitive to compensatory damages ratio of State Farm v. Campbell [citation], court awarded attorney’s fees are properly included as compensatory damages?

    Despite the request for a response, this petition still seems like a longshot, given that the Supreme Court has denied other petitions raising similar issues in recent years.  Nevertheless, the request for a response should be welcome news for Quicken Loans.  At least it keeps alive the possibility of a grant.