Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2006
Keywords
Punitive damages, Compensatory damages, Punitive awards, Compensatory awards, Joni Hersch, Kip Viscusi, Hersch-Viscusi, H-V, Empirical legal studies
Disciplines
Applied Statistics | Legal Remedies | Litigation
Abstract
This article assesses the relation between punitive and compensatory damages in a data set, gathered by Hersch and Viscusi (H-V), consisting of all known punitive damages awards in excess of $100 million from 1985 through 2003. It shows that a strong, statistically significant relation exists between punitive and compensatory awards, a relation that replicates similar findings in nearly all other analyses of punitive and compensatory damages. H-V's claim that no significant relation exists between punitive and compensatory awards in these data appears to be an artifact of questionable regression methodology.
Recommended Citation
Eisenberg, Theodore and Wells, Martin T., "Significant Association Between Punitive and Compensatory Damages in Blockbuster Cases: A Methodological Primer" (2006). Cornell Law Faculty Publications. 361.
https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/facpub/361
Publication Citation
Theodore Eisenberg & Martin T. Wells, "Significant Association Between Punitive and Compensatory Damages in Blockbuster Cases: A Methodological Primer", 3 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies (2006)