$18 Million Punitive Damages Award Affirmed On Appeal.

In an asbestos case, wherein a worker developed mesothelioma, and his wife suffered a loss of consortium, a jury awarded $30 million in compensatory damages, after finding defendant 65 percent at fault, and awarded $18 million in punitive damages. The plaintiffs accepted the trial court’s remittitur with regard to reducing the compensatory damages to $6 million, but the trial court did not touch the punitive award and the defendants appealed. The appellate court explained the degree of reprehensibility of the defendant’s conduct is the most important indicator or the reasonableness of a punitive damages award because “it should be presumed a plaintiff has been made whole for his injuries by compensatory damages, so punitive damages should only be awarded if the defendant’s culpability, after having paid compensatory damages, is so reprehensible as to warrant the imposition of further sanctions to achieve punishment or deterrence.” Noting that plaintiff’s terminal cancer will result in his death in the next few years, the court found this “clearly weighs in favor of high reprehensibility.” The court also discussed a 1967 memo wherein defendant knew that only a low level of exposure could result in mesothelioma. Despite this knowledge, defendant did not warn, but instead issued a statement in 1975, which pointed out that “cancer is a very emotional word.” Pointing out the evidence “suggests [defendant] knew the dangers of its product, but failed to warn customers of those dangers, while seeking to maintain profits from the sale of asbestos,” the appellate court affirmed the award. (Izell v. Union Carbide Corporation (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 3; October 22, 2014)  231 Cal.App.4th 962.)