New report on punitive damages

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (of the Department of Justice) has just released its most recent report on punitive damages which contains statistics for the year 2005. Not surprisingly (at least not surprising to those who actually pay attention to the facts), contrary to what tort reformers usually argue the numbers do not paint a picture of a system gone crazy. Two interesting main findings are that (1) Punitive damages were awarded in 700 (5%) of the 14,359 trials where the plaintiff prevailed and (2) the median punitive damage award was $64,000. You can access the report here. For more information go here.