The issue of punitive damages has vexed courts for years, nowhere more so than in the recent Second Circuit case, Payne v. Jones, 2012 WL 4513114 (2d Cir. Oct. 3, 2012), a case that raises interesting questions about the purposes of punitive damages, the appropriate appellate standard of review, and the proper role of appellate courts in reviewing a punitive damages award.
The Facts
James Edward Payne was a decorated Vietnam War veteran who suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. On Sept. 11, 2007, Payne went to a hospital emergency room after accidentally cutting his thumb. Because Payne was combative and disoriented, Officer Brandon Jones and another officer in the Utica Police Department placed him under arrest pursuant to N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law §9.41, “which authorizes the arrest of a person who appears to be mentally ill and acts in a manner likely to result in serious harm to himself or others.”1
