Section 30 Nexus Required Between Injury and Amount of Punitives

• Library: Damages 2012

Even at common law, which would seem to still be authoritative with respect to punitive awards less than $500,000, under Missouri law generally, the award must bear some relation to the injury inflicted and the cause of the injury. Van Eaton v. Thon, 764 S.W.2d 674, 677 (Mo. App. W.D. 1988); Ross v. Holton, 640 S.W.2d 166, 174 (Mo. App. E.D. 1982). There must be a “nexus between the wrong committed by the defendant and the amount of punitive damages, not between the amount of actual damages awarded and the...