Within the past 15 years or so, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued several opinions setting out restrictions on punitive damages. Because punitive damages can be viewed as a taking of property, they implicate the Due Process Clause of the U. S. Constitution. The first of these cases, and perhaps the most interesting, was BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore, 517 U.S. 559 (1996). Dr. Ira Gore purchased what he thought was a brand new BMW, only to find out months later that the vehicle had been damaged slightly when being transported, and had been repaired and repainted prior to its delivery to him. He was not told about the repairs, and only learned the vehicle had been repainted months after the transaction. BMW had an internal policy of selling those vehicles as new without informing the dealer or purchaser, when the cost to repair was less than 3% of the value of the vehicle. The paint job on the Gore vehicle cost less than $1,000. Nonetheless, an Alabama jury found that BMW had engaged in fraud and awarded Dr. Gore $4,000 in compensatory damages, and $4,000,000 in punitive damages. Though the Alabama Supreme Court later reduced the amount to $2,000,000, even that number was a bit too breathtaking for the U. S. Supreme Court. In sending the case back to the Alabama courts, the Supreme Court issued several guidelines for all states to follow on the issue of punitive damages. The court held that such an award must bear a relationship to the nature of the conduct, must bear some reasonable ratio to the amount of compensatory damages (here the ratio was 1,000:1!), and take into account existing state civil and criminal penalties for similar conduct. In subsequent cases, the Supreme Court has held that only in extraordinary cases will punitive damages exceeding double digit ratios to compensatory damages be considered appropriate. More…

Periodically, a client will ask about punitive damages. The topic often arises in situations where the other party’s negligence had the potential to create much greater harm than actually occurred. Example:  A company’s defectively designed product which could have caused death or serious injury did not, but only due to sheer luck. The client learns that they are not entitled to recover for an injury that could have occurred, only for what did occur. Most clients accept this, but are genuinely concerned that something worse does not happen to someone else. This sometimes leads to questions about punitive damages.

Punitive damages are distinct from compensatory damages, which are awarded to compensate the injured party for his/ her losses. Punitive damages cannot be awarded without some recovery for compensatory damages. They are assessed in addition to compensatory damages as an expression of a jury’s outrage over the conduct of the defendant. However, ordinary negligence, even gross negligence, will not result in recovery of punitive damages. More…

Eight attorneys from Faraci Lange LLP have been selected for inclusion in the 2011 Upstate Edition of New York Super Lawyers.

The attorneys recognized are:

• Matthew F. Belanger, in the practice area of personal injury plaintiff: general. The Brighton resident is listed for the second time.
• David L. Cook, in the practice area of business litigation. Cook, of Pittsford, has been named to New York Super Lawyers in three previous years from 2007 – 2009.
• John A. Falk, in personal injury plaintiff: general. A Brighton resident, Falk is listed for the second time.
• Angelo G. Faraci, in personal injury plaintiff: medical malpractice. Faraci, who resides in Rochester, has been listed in New York Super Lawyers since 2007.
• Paul K. Lange, in personal injury plaintiff: general. First named to New York Super Lawyers in 2007, Lange resides in Rochester.
• Joseph A. Regan, of Rochester, in personal injury plaintiff: medical malpractice. Regan has been named to New York Super Lawyers since 2008.
• Stephen G. Schwarz, of Fairport, in personal injury plaintiff: medical malpractice. He was first named to New York Super Lawyers in 2007.
• Brian M. Zorn, in personal injury plaintiff:  medical malpractice. Zorn, of Victor, has been named to New York Super Lawyers since 2007.

Only five percent of the attorneys in Upstate New York are named to the Super Lawyers list. Super Lawyers selects attorneys using a multi-phase process combining peer nominations and evaluations with third-party research. Candidates are evaluated based on peer recognition and professional achievement. The publication aims to provide a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource for attorneys and consumers searching for legal counsel.

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Seven lawyers from Faraci Lange LLP have been selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2011 edition of Best Lawyers in America^®.

The attorneys named are:

• Matthew F. Belanger, in the practice areas of personal injury litigation and product liability litigation. Belanger, a resident of Brighton, has been named to Best Lawyers since 2008.
• John A. Falk, in medical malpractice law, personal injury litigation and product liability litigation. The Brighton resident also was named to Best Lawyers in 2009.
• Angelo G. Faraci, in legal malpractice law, medical malpractice law, personal injury litigation and product liability litigation. Faraci, who resides in Rochester, has been listed in Best Lawyers since its inception in 1983.
• Paul K. Lange, in medical malpractice law, personal injury litigation and product liability litigation. First named to Best Lawyers in 2001, Lange resides in Rochester.
• Joseph A. Regan, in medical malpractice law, personal injury litigation and product liability litigation. The Rochester resident has been named to Best Lawyers since 2005.
• Stephen G. Schwarz, in medical malpractice law, personal injury litigation and product liability litigation. The Fairport resident was first named to Best Lawyers in 1999.
• Brian M. Zorn, in medical malpractice law, personal injury litigation and product liability litigation. Zorn, who resides in Victor, has been named to Best Lawyers since 1995.

Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, is based on an exhaustive annual survey in which more than 39,000 leading attorneys cast almost 3.1 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas. Since its inception in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

Because Best Lawyers is based on a peer-review survey, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”

Steven Naifeh, president of Best Lawyers, said, “We continue to believe – as we have believed for 28 years – that recognition by one’s peers is the most meaningful form of recognition in the legal profession.”

The 2009 SuperLawyers Listings have been released and once again Faraci Lange attorneys are right at the top. Five Faraci Lange attorneys (Angelo G. Faraci, Paul K. Lange, Joseph A. Regan, Stephen G. Schwarz and Brian M. Zorn) were selected in the category of Plaintiff Medical Malpractice, representing all but one of the six lawyers from Rochester selected in this category. The same five attorneys from Faraci Lange were the only attorneys from Rochester selected in the Plaintiff Product Liability category. Four Faraci Lange attorneys (Faraci, Lange, Regan and Zorn) were selected in the Personal Injury – General category and Schwarz was also listed in the Environmental Litigation category.

Two Faraci Lange attorneys (Faraci and Schwarz) were in the Top Fifty Upstate New York SuperLawyers listing for the second consecutive year. This listing is comprised of the highest rated 50 attorneys in Upstate New York which includes all specialties.

Faraci Lange is proud of the attorneys selected by their peers for this distinction.