Forum
U.S. Supreme Court
Case Status
Decided
Docket Number
Term
Cert. Denied
Lower Court Opinion
Questions Presented
1. Whether a state court may evade its obligation to apply the United States Constitution and this Court’s cases by asserting that expressly and pervasively raised federal constitutional claims were purportedly waived.
2. Whether, in applying the punitive to compen-satory damages ratio of State Farm Mutual Automo-bile Insurance Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408 (2003), court-awarded attorney’s fees are properly included as compensatory damages.
Case Updates
Cert. petition denied
October 05, 2015
U.S. Chamber urges Supreme Court to review WV Supreme Court due process ruling
April 29, 2015
In its amicus brief, the U.S. Chamber supported a petition from Quicken Loans, Inc. asking the U.S. Supreme Court to summarily reverse the West Virginia Supreme Court. The West Virginia Supreme Court had refused to consider Quicken’s argument that an award of $2.1 million in punitive damages in a case involving $17,500 in actual damages violated due process because, that court asserted, Quicken had failed to raise the issue in its briefs.
In fact, Quicken expressly asserted that the award violated “federal due process” and cited relevant Supreme Court precedent no fewer than 15 times in its briefs. The Chamber’s brief emphasized that this sort of sham procedural finding has been a recurring problem with the West Virginia Supreme Court and threatens the integrity of the judicial system.
Andrew J. Pincus and Richard B. Katskee of Mayer Brown LLP represented the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as counsel to the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center in this case.
Case Documents
- Cert. Petition -- Quicken Loans v. Brown (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- U.S. Chamber Amicus Brief -- Quicken Loans v. Brown (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf
- Washington Legal Foundation Amicus Brief -- Quicken Loans v. Brown (U.S. Supreme Court).pdf