Question

6) (5 pts) Punitive Damages: In Cryts v. Ford Motor Company 571 S.W2d 683, (Missouri Court of Appeals), Mr. Crtys suffered paraplegia when his 1957 Ford Thunderbird was struck by another car and he was thrown into the armrest. The plaintiff produced evidence from an expert witness that the armrest was defective, in that it was constructed of hard plastic with minimal energy-absorbing capacity; that it was lightly padded; and that its pointed shape was such as to concentrate the force of energy absorbed by the body. Mr. Cryts won $150,000 in compensatory damages from Ford for a defect in design. Suppose Ford made 10,000 cars with the same design defect. To correct the defect would cost Ford $50 per car. 100 other people suffered similar injuries due to the defective armrest. Suppose the judge in this case has to decide on whether to award punitive damages. What award might she give Cryts in order to compensate for the enforcement error?

Answer 1

answer-

We see that this case is product liability case in which Ford sold defected cars to customers and lead to harm or damage. In order to stop Ford from selling its defective cars even after compensatory damages are awarded to Crtys, Court must award her Punitive damages so that it can deter or punish ford to stop selling such cars and prevent him from doing such legal mistakes in future again. This will also set example for other companies as well to not to do such act.

Punitive damages typically do not exceed 2 to 3 times the amount of compensatory damages. so in this case, Maxmimum amount which Cryts can be awarded are 3*150000 = $450000.

Court can order ford to pay this amount as punitive damanges to Crtys in addition of compensatory damanges as well.