{"id":6691,"date":"2017-11-14T10:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T10:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertkreisman.com\/injury-lawyer\/?p=6691"},"modified":"2017-11-11T14:44:29","modified_gmt":"2017-11-11T14:44:29","slug":"u-s-district-court-decides-punitive-damages-claim-allows-investigation-corporations-books-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robertkreisman.com\/injury-lawyer\/u-s-district-court-decides-punitive-damages-claim-allows-investigation-corporations-books-records\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. District Court Decides That Punitive Damages Claim Allows Investigation into Corporation\u2019s Books and Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

The issue in this case was whether the financial condition of Wexford Health Sources<\/a>, the defendant in this federal lawsuit, is relevant for Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)<\/a> to apply. This rule limits discovery to that which is \u201crelevant to any party\u2019s claim or defense.\u201d If a corporate defendant\u2019s wealth may not be considered when assessing punitive damages, it is not \u201crelevant,\u201d but if it may be properly considered then, of course, it is relevant. In this U.S. Federal District Court of Illinois (Central District) lawsuit, the initial question to be answered was whether Wexford\u2019s financial condition could be investigated through discovery; this was answered mostly by the case of Zazu Design v. L\u2019Or\u00e9al<\/em>, 979 F.2d 499 (7th<\/sup> Cir. 1992).<\/p>\n

In Zazu<\/em>, a case relied upon by Wexford, the defendant in this case, the court considered the defendant\u2019s appeal in a trademark infringement action. The court reversed and remanded, finding that the plaintiff did not have superior rights in trademark to the defendant and, even if it had, the damages award was excessive.<\/p>\n

Regarding the punitive damages award, the court noted that although courts \u201ctake account of a defendant\u2019s wealth when an amount sufficient to punish or deter one individual may be trivial to another,\u201d such may not be the case when the defendant is a corporation. The court explained:<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The issue in this case was whether the financial condition of Wexford Health Sources, the defendant in this federal lawsuit, is relevant for Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b) to apply. This rule limits discovery to that which is \u201crelevant to any party\u2019s claim or defense.\u201d If a corporate defendant\u2019s wealth may not be considered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":795,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[49,133,163],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-litigation","category-contract-litigation","category-damages"],"yoast_head":"\nU.S. District Court Decides That Punitive Damages Claim Allows Investigation into Corporation\u2019s Books and Records — Chicago Injury Lawyer 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