South Carolina Adopts Punitive Damages Legislation

I just saw this in the TortsProf blog and thought it was about the same legislation I wrote about yesterday, but then realized this is from South Carolina rather than North Carolina.  So it is different....

The new law in South Carolina is described as having a "semi-flexible cap" on punitive damages, with $500,000 or three times actual damages as the default, but with a provision to raise the cap to $2 million (or four times the amount of compensatory damages) "if the court finds a defendant is motivated primarily by financial gain or a defendant’s actions rise to the level of felony charge." 

It is early in the morning and I am not thinking too hard, but, at least in cases of corporate/industry/manufacturing type defendants, isn't it difficult to think of circumstances where conduct that justifies punitive damages is not motivated primarily by financial gain?

For more information go here.

Thanks to the TortsProf blog for the information and links.