Seventh Circuit Issues Important Decision On "Hindsight Bias" In Punitive Damages Cases

Keywords: punitive damages, personal injury

Many states restrict punitive damages to situations in which the defendant either intended to injure the plaintiff or disregarded a substantial risk of injury.  Regrettably, courts often misapply the latter basis for punitive damages in a way that undermines its function of limiting punitive damages to cases of truly egregious misconduct.

In his opinion for the Seventh Circuit in Jentz v. ConAgra Foods, Inc., the ever-insightful Judge Easterbrook recently took a step to reverse the tide.

Jentz involved an explosion of a grain storage bin.  After detecting a burning smell in that bin, the owner retained a company that specializes in remediating smoking bins.  About a week after coming on site, the contractor detected smoke coming from the bin.  The contractor's foreman thereupon directed an employee of the contractor and an employee of an unrelated contractor to retrieve some tools from a tunnel leading to the bin in