No. 20-999

Lloyd Industries, Inc. v. Ronald Watson

Lower Court: Third Circuit
Docketed: 2021-01-26
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Tags: civil-rights constitutional-scrutiny due-process free-speech punitive-damages ratio ratio-analysis reprehensibility title-vii
Key Terms:
SocialSecurity DueProcess EmploymentDiscrimina LaborRelations
Latest Conference: 2021-04-30
Question Presented (from Petition)

Should this Court grant a Writ of Certiorari:

1. to correct a pervasive error by many
lower courts, including the Third Circuit in this case,
which have misunderstood the precedents to mean that
a single-digit ratio creates a safe harbor and insulates a
punitive award from meaningful constitutional
scrutiny?

2. to rekindle the rule—which has been all
but abandoned by the lower courts—that when
compensatory damages are substantial, a 1:1 ratio is the
outermost limit of the due process guarantee?

3. to settle the confusion in the lower courts
as to whether the damage cap in Title VII is a penalty
in comparable cases—i.e., the third guidepost—and, if
so, how it should be applied?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Should this Court grant a Writ of Certiorari

Docket Entries

2021-05-03
Petition DENIED.
2021-04-14
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/30/2021.
2021-03-26
Brief of respondent Ronald Watson in opposition filed.
2021-02-08
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 29, 2021.
2021-02-05
Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 25, 2021 to March 29, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
2021-01-13
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 25, 2021)

Attorneys

Lloyd Industries, Inc.
Theodore C. Forrence — Petitioner
Ronald Watson
Samuel A. DionDion & Goldberger, Respondent