What is the test for calculating punitive damages in a motor vehicle accident?

The principal argument of the district court, in its reliance on both the federal and state constitutions, was that the punitive damage limitation is irrational because it permits damages for injury to property while prohibiting punitive damages for death of a person in the same accident. ¹⁰ 427 F.Supp. at 706. The use of the phrase "punitive damages" as a unitary and undifferentiated concept to describe injuries to both property and person obscures an important point. In California as elsewhere the amount of punitive damages must be proportional to the amount of compensatory damages. See, e. g., Allard v. Church of Scientology, 58 Cal.App.3d 439, 452-53, 129 Cal.Rptr. 797, 805-06 (1976). Assimilating a punitive damage award for the destruction

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