Question

Melissa's tugboat accidentally collides with Tyler's yacht, and Tyler sues Melissa for negligence. A federal jury finds Melissa liable and awards Tyler $5,000 in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages. Melissa appeals to the United States Supreme Court challenging the punitive damage award. If the court heard the case, it would likely __________.

Answer 1

Answer: Overturn the punitive damage awarded as grossly excessive.

Explanation: If the punitive damage award is challenged in a Supreme Court, The punitive damage award will most likely be overturned as it seems too excessive.

To start with,A defendant is required to pay a fee in punitive damage if the defendant is guilty of an offense perpetrated delibrately, intentionally or with utter negligence. This is to serve as warning signal to others to desist from such acts. The punitive damage fee is usually paid aside from the Compensatory damage fee and could be seen as a way to buttress the amount paid to the plaintiff.

However, with a Compensatory damage fee of $5000 and a punitive damage fee of $50million for an accidental and unintentional incident seems overly excessive. Even though there is no maximum amount for punitive damage in the constitution. punitive damages are usually meant to warn against intentional and negligent acts. Therefore, a punitive damage fee of $50million for an accidental act will most likely be overturned by the Supreme Court.

Answer 2

overturn the punitive damage award as grossly excessive.

Step-by-step explanation:

If the court heard the case, it would likely overturn the punitive damage award as grossly excessive.

This is because, since or if it has been established to be an accident and not intentional, and Mellisa has being fined of $5000 for damages, the $50miliom is unreasonable or too much to pay as the punitive damages. Hence, it will be assumed that the previous jury or verdict violates a sense of justice.