A little while ago I posted about a Colorado Supreme Court opinion that affirmed an $18 million punitive damages award, and I observed that state supreme courts don’t often affirm blockbuster punitive damages awards.  One of our readers then alerted me to the Oregon Supreme Court’s opinion last week in Strawn v. Farmers Insurance Co. of Oregon, which affirmed an $8 million punitive damages award.  (Technically, the court reinstated an $8 million punitive damages award that had been reversed by the Court of Appeal.) 

That doesn’t quite qualify as a “blockbuster,” but it is surprising that the court affirmed the award given that the compensatory damages were only $800,000.  A 10-to-1 ratio seems awfully high in a case that involves purely economic harm (underpayment of insurance policy benefits).  Then again, the Oregon Supreme Court has a history of marching to the beat of its own drum when it comes to punitive damages; this is the court that affirmed the $79.5 million punitive damages award in Philip Morris v. Williams even after the U.S. Supreme Court held that the jury instructions in that case violated Due Process.

DISCLOSURE: Horvitz & Levy was not involved in the Strawn case, but we do represent Farmers in other matters.