Robertson Oil Company, Inc. v. Phillips Petroleum Company

14 F.3d 360, 1992 WL 551555
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit·Decided January 27, 1993·No. 91-3717·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinions

JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

Phillips Petroleum Company appeals from a district court1 order refusing to vacate two punitive damage awards — $4,000,000 for tor-[361]*361tious interference with a business relationship and $4,000,000 for fraud — after the remand we ordered in Robertson Oil Co. v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 930 F.2d 1342 (8th Cir.1991). Phillips now argues that the district court erred in reviewing the punitive damage awards by applying the Arkansas “shock the conscience” standard because that standard does not constrain the jury’s discretion when awarding punitive damages so as to satisfy due process considerations. Phillips also argues that the two $4,000,000 awards are grossly disproportionate, arbitrary, capricious, and fundamentally unfair in violation of due process, duplicative, and an abuse of discretion, and that the jury’s deliberations were impermissibly influenced by inflammatory evidence of Phillips’ wealth. We affirm the punitive damage awards.

The case is now before us for the third time, and we need not repeat the underlying substantive facts, which are set out in our two earlier decisions: Robertson Oil Co. v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 871 F.2d 1368, 1369 (8th Cir.1989); and Robertson II, 930 F.2d at 1342.

The first trial in this case resulted in verdicts against Phillips for fraud, negligence, and tortious interference with a business relationship; 2 an actual damage award of $750,000; and a punitive damage award of $5,000,000. Robertson I, 871 F.2d at 1369. We affirmed the tortious interference verdict, but reversed the negligence and fraud verdicts as inconsistent. Id. We upheld the actual damage award because it was based on only one injury, the loss of the Spe-Dee Mart account, and the tortious interference verdict established Phillips’ liability for that injury. Id. at 1376. We struck the punitive damage award, however, because a jury must consider the defendant’s conduct when it determines the amount to award, and the general verdict form in this case made it impossible for us to determine how much of the punitive damage award was based on the conduct the jury associated with each of its findings of liability. Id. We said that “[e]ach of these theories ... would support a different amount of punitive damages depending upon the conduct involved.” Id. Some of the punitive damage award may have been based on the conduct underlying the negligence and fraud theories that were reversed. Id. Therefore, the case was remanded for retrial of the negligence and fraud claims and the punitive damage award. Id. at 1377.

The second trial resulted in a verdict against Phillips on the fraud claim,3 and punitive damage awards of $4,000,000 for fraud and $4,000,000 for tortious interference. Robertson II, 930 F.2d at 1343. Phillips appealed again. Id. We rejected various claims of error, but because of the intervening United States Supreme Court decision in Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Haslip, 499 U.S. 1, 111 S.Ct. 1032, 113 L.Ed.2d 1 (1991), we remanded with instructions for the district court to consider the propriety of the punitive damage awards under the principles of Haslip and Arkansas law. Robertson II, 930 F.2d at 1347.

On remand, the district court first analyzed the punitive damage awards under the Arkansas court’s “shock the conscience” standard. This standard allows punitive damage awards to stand unless the amount shocks the conscience of the court or demonstrates that jurors were motivated by passion or prejudice. O’Neal Ford, Inc. v. Davie, 299 Ark. 45, 770 S.W.2d 656, 659 (1989). The district court studied the historical development of the “shock the conscience” standard and determined that the standard’s “long and distinguished history ... bears testimony to its utility and constitutionality.” Robertson Oil Co. v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 779 F.Supp. 994, 996 (1991). The court then examined Arkansas cases applying the standard and concluded that the Arkansas Supreme Court had enumerated a number of specific inquiries which gave the standard a definite “shape and texture.” Id. The district court concluded that the standard was not too subjective and that the review crite[362]*362ria and procedures ensured a “meaningful and adequate review by the trial court” as required by Haslip, — U.S. —, 111 S.Ct. at 1044, and therefore, satisfied due process. 779 F.Supp. at 997. The district court then applied the Arkansas review criteria and allowed the awards to stand. Id. at 997-98.

I.

Phillips advances a multi-faceted argument that the Arkansas “shock the conscience” standard of review does not adequately constrain the discretion of juries to impose punitive damages so as to satisfy due process. Expanding this general argument, Phillips asserts that “standardless” and virtually unlimited jury discretion to punish and highly deferential judicial review of punitive damage verdicts render the Arkansas system constitutionally defective under Haslip. Phillips argues that application of the Arkansas standard of malice has been inconsistent and unpredictable, and that there is no fixed standard for the measurement of punitive damages or legislatively defined range. Phillips further argues that there is no reasonable relationship between the compensatory and punitive damage awards. Phillips then launches into a more specific attack on the “shock the conscience” standard, and asserts that federal courts applying Arkansas law have taken a broad brush approach to this standard. Phillips also argues that the Supreme Court approved the punitive damage system in Haslip because Alabama limited jury discretion and had a two layered post-verdict review procedure for evaluating the propriety of punitive damages. Finally, Phillips argues that the district court’s application of the Arkansas “shock the conscience” standard was constitutionally flawed.

Phillips’ broad based arguments fail to recognize the scope and nature of the district court’s review of the punitive damage awards, and in truth, fail to recognize the review that Arkansas courts have made of punitive damage awards.

When the district court analyzed the punitive damage awards, it first considered the Arkansas “shock the conscience” standard and the question of whether jurors were motivated by passion and prejudice. 779 .F.Supp. at 995-96. The court engaged in an historical analysis of the “shock the conscience” standard in Arkansas cases, as well as earlier English cases, and then examined the awards under the standard in Haslip. Id. at 996-98. The district court observed that the Arkansas Supreme Court has given the “shock the conscience” standard a “definite shape and texture” by engaging in a number of specific inquiries. Id. at 996. The district court stated:

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Robertson Oil Company, Inc. v. Phillips Petroleum Company, 14 F.3d 360, 1992 WL 551555 (8th Cir. 1993).

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