Oregon Court of Appeals reduces punitive damages in employment case

This week the Oregon Court of Appeals struck down a jury award of punitive damages 30 times the amount of compensatory damages, in a case where the harm to plaintiff was economic and not physical.  In Hamlin v. Hampton Lumber Mills, Inc., plaintiff was a former employee who was not reinstated after recovering from a workplace injury.  He sued for damages, claiming he was discriminated against for making a workers compensation claim.  The jury awarded $6,000 in compensatory damages and $175,000 in punitive damages. 

Judge Rex Armstrong, writing for the court, held that the punitive damages award was grossly excessive under the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution.  For a wrongful act resulting in economic harm but not personal injury, punitive damages should generally not exceed four times compensatory damages.  The Court of Appeals directed the trial court to reduce the punitive damages award accordingly. 

See our coverage of Goddard v. Farmers Insurance, the Oregon Supreme Court case that recently set guidelines for punitive damages in non-personal injury cases.