Honda Motor Co., Ltd. v. Oberg

Summary

The Supreme Court held that Oregon's prohibition on judicial review of the amount of punitive damages violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court concluded that judicial review of punitive damages awards is a fundamental procedural safeguard against arbitrary deprivations of property and reversed and remanded the judgment.

Holdings

1. Oregon's denial of judicial review of the size of punitive-damages awards violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
2. Review determining only whether there is evidence supporting some punitive damages is not an adequate substitute for review of whether the amount awarded has a rational basis.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires judicial review of the amount of a punitive-damages award.
2. Whether Oregon's constitutional restriction on reexamining jury findings, which allowed review only when there was no evidence supporting the verdict, violated procedural due process by denying review of the amount of punitive damages.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded