3942. Punitive Damages Individual Defendant Bifurcated Trial (Second Phase)

3942. Punitive Damages--Individual Defendant--Bifurcated Trial (Second Phase) Instruction No 1 Request by Plaintiff Given as Proposed Refused Withdrawn Request by Defendant Given as Modified Requested by Given on Court's Motion Judge Instruction No 1 You must now decide the amount, if any, that you should award [name of plaintiff] in punitive damages. The purposes of punitive damages are to punish a wrongdoer for the conduct that harmed the plaintiff and to discourage similar conduct in the future. There is no fixed formula for determining the amount of punitive damages, and you are not required to award any punitive damages. If you decide to award punitive damages, you should consider all of the following factors in determining the amount: (a) How reprehensible was [name of defendant]'s conduct? In deciding how reprehensible [name of defendant]'s conduct was, you may consider, among other factors: 1. 2. 3. Whether the conduct caused physical harm; Whether [name of defendant] disregarded the health or safety of others; Whether [name of plaintiff] was financially weak or vulnerable and [name of defendant] knew [name of plaintiff] was financially weak or vulnerable and took advantage of [him/her/it]; Whether [name of defendant]'s conduct involved a pattern or practice; and Whether [name of defendant] acted with trickery or deceit. 4. 5. (b) Is there a reasonable relationship between the amount of punitive damages and [name of plaintiff]'s harm [or between the amount of 3942. Punitive Damages--Individual Defendant--Bifurcated Trial (Second Phase) Instruction No 1 Request by Plaintiff Given as Proposed Refused Withdrawn Request by Defendant Given as Modified Requested by Given on Court's Motion Judge Instruction No 1 punitive damages and potential harm to [name of plaintiff] that [name of defendant] knew was likely to occur because of [his/her/its] conduct]? (c) In view of [name of defendant]'s financial condition, what amount is necessary to punish [him/her/it] and discourage future wrongful conduct? You may not increase the punitive award above an amount that is otherwise appropriate merely because [name of defendant] has substantial financial resources. [Any award you impose may not exceed [name of defendant]'s ability to pay.] [Punitive damages may not be used to punish [name of defendant] for the impact of [his/her/its] alleged misconduct on persons other than [name of plaintiff].] ________________________________________________________________________________ New September 2003; Revised April 2004, October 2004, June 2006, April 2007, August 2007, October 2008