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LOYAL AMERICAN LIFE INS. v. MATTIACE5/24/1996
ing out of the failure to pay benefits under an insurance policy. In fact, this Court, not the legislature, created the tort, and did so only 15 years ago. In fact, in 1987, the legislature, after vigorous debates, adopted a series of what has commonly been referred to as "tort reform" laws, which addressed the issue of the award of punitive damages in such cases, and it was this Court that declared many of those laws to be unconstitutional as violating a plaintiff's right to trial by jury. See, Smith v. Schulte, 671 So.2d 1334 (Ala. 1995); Henderson v. Alabama Power Co., 627 So.2d 878 (Ala. 1993); Moore, 592 So.2d 156. However, this Court has made one exception to the rule that these legislative caps violate the Alabama Constitution.
Under the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, corporate citizens like Loyal American are guaranteed the right to equal protection of the laws and the right to due process of law. In the BMW case, the United States Supreme Court stated:
"The fact that BMW is a large corporation rather than an impecunious individual does not diminish its entitlement to fair notice of the demands that the several States impose on the conduct of its business. Indeed, its status as an active participant in the national economy implicates the federal interest in preventing individual States from imposing undue burdens on interstate commerce."
___ U.S. at ___, 116 S.Ct. at 1604. Allowing the jury to penalize this defendant based on the alleged wrong committed in this case constitutes a denial of its basic rights, and I believe Loyal American has adequately raised its claim to that constitutional protection. Consequently, I must disagree with the majority's statement that the constitutional claims were not presented. Clearly they were.
HOUSTON , Justice (concurring in part and concurring in the result in part).
HOOPER, Chief Justice (dissenting).
MADDOX, Justice (dissenting).
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Alabama DUI Attorneys
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