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BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore, 517 U.S. 559 (1996)

Full notes and cites: https://opinion-of-the-court.pages.dev/ep/071-bmw-of-north-america-inc-v-gore

Official text (U.S. Reports, Library of Congress): https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep517/usrep517559/usrep517559.pdf

Full text of the opinions, AI-narrated (Kokoro-82M, voice af_heart). Original introduction; opinion text is public domain. Not legal advice.

Dr. Ira Gore bought a new BMW in Birmingham, Alabama, and later learned it had been partly repainted before delivery because of acid-rain damage during shipping. BMW's policy was not to disclose repairs costing less than three percent of the car's price. An Alabama jury awarded four thousand dollars in compensatory damages and four million in punitive damages, which the Alabama Supreme Court cut to two million.

Justice Stevens, for a five-to-four majority, held that the award was grossly excessive and violated due process. He named three guideposts: the degree of reprehensibility of the conduct, the ratio between punitive and actual harm, here five hundred to one, and the civil penalties available for comparable misconduct.

Justice Breyer concurred. The dissenters made a strange coalition: Justices Scalia and Thomas, who said the Due Process Clause gives no protection against excessive verdicts, and Justice Ginsburg, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist, who said the matter belonged to the states.

Citations: reporter citations were shortened or left out of the audio; every citation is listed on the website.

Cases named aloud

- TXO Production Corp. v. Alliance Resources Corp., 509 U.S. 443 (1993) at 462 [as printed: Court’s expositions. See TXO Production Corp. v. Alliance Resources Corp., 509 U. S. 443, 462; Dissent (Justice Ginsburg)] (episode link pending)

- Green Oil Co. v. Hornsby, 539 So.2d 218 (Ala. 1989) [as printed: Green Oil Co. v. Hornsby, 539 So. 2d 218 (Ala. 1989); Concurrence (Justice Breyer)] (episode link pending)

- Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U.S. 1 (1991) [as printed: Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U. S. 1 (1991); Dissent (Justice Ginsburg)] episode

- Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1 (1824) at 194-196 [as printed: Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 194-196 (1824); Opinion of the Court (Justice Stevens)] (episode link pending)

- Healy v. Beer Institute, 491 U.S. 324 (1989) at 335-336 (the Constitution has a “special concern both with the maintenance of a national economic union unfettered by state-imposed limitations on interstate commerce and with the autonomy of the individual States within their respective spheres” (footnote omitted)) [as printed: Healy v. Beer Institute, 491 U. S. 324, 335-336 (1989) (the Constitution has a “special concern both with the maintenance of a national economic union unfettered by state-imposed limitations on interstate commerce and with the autonomy of the individual States within their respective spheres” (footnote omitted)); Opinion of the Court (Justice Stevens)] (episode link pending)

- Edgar v. MITE Corp., 457 U.S. 624 (1982) at 643 [as printed: Edgar v. MITE Corp., 457 U. S. 624, 643 (1982); Opinion of the Court (Justice Stevens)] (episode link pending)

(+27 more named aloud; see the website)

Full list of 206 citations not read aloud: https://opinion-of-the-court.pages.dev/ep/071-bmw-of-north-america-inc-v-gore

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Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003 (1992)

Full notes and cites: https://opinion-of-the-court.pages.dev/ep/070-lucas-v-south-carolina-coastal-council

Official text (U.S. Reports, Library of Congress): https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep505/usrep5051003/usrep5051003.pdf

Full text of the opinions, AI-narrated (Kokoro-82M, voice af_heart). Original introduction; opinion text is public domain. Not legal advice.

In 1986 David Lucas paid nearly a million dollars for two residential lots on the Isle of Palms, a barrier island near Charleston, planning to build homes like those next door. Two years later South Carolina's Beachfront Management Act barred him from building any permanent habitable structures on the lots.

Justice Scalia, for a six-to-three majority, held that a regulation depriving land of all economically beneficial use is a taking requiring compensation, unless the use was already forbidden by background principles of the state's law of property and nuisance. The state cannot escape paying simply by declaring that it is preventing harm.

Justices Kennedy and Souter wrote separately. Justices Blackmun and Stevens dissented. In a postscript the opinion does not mention, after paying Lucas, the state sold the lots, and houses were built on them.

Citations: reporter citations were shortened or left out of the audio; every citation is listed on the website.

Cases named aloud

- Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U.S. 623 (1887) [as printed: Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U. S. 623 (1887); Dissent (Justice Stevens)] (episode link pending)

- Sommer & Frates v. Yolo County, 477 U.S. 340 (1986) at 351 [as printed: Sommer & Frates v. Yolo County, 477 U. S. 340, 351 (1986); Dissent (Justice Stevens)] (episode link pending)

- Williamson County Regional Planning Comm’n v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172 (1985) at 190, 191 [as printed: Williamson County Regional Planning Comm’n v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U. S. 172, 190, 191 (1985); Dissent (Justice Blackmun)] (episode link pending)

- Esposito v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 939 F.2d 165 (CA4 1991) at 168 [as printed: Esposito v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 939 F. 2d 165, 168 (CA4 1991); Dissent (Justice Blackmun)] (episode link pending)

- Legal Tender Cases, 12 Wall. 457 (1871) at 551 [as printed: Legal Tender Cases, 12 Wall. 457, 551 (1871); Opinion of the Court (Justice Scalia)] (episode link pending)

- Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, 260 U.S. 393 (1922) [as printed: Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, 260 U. S. 393 (1922); Dissent (Justice Stevens)] episode

- Transportation Co. v. Chicago, 99 U.S. 635 (1879) at 642 [as printed: Transportation Co. v. Chicago, 99 U. S. 635, 642 (1879); Opinion of the Court (Justice Scalia)] (episode link pending)

- Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, 438 U.S. 104 (1978) [as printed: Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City, 438 U. S. 104 (1978); Dissent (Justice Stevens)] episode

- Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp., 458 U.S. 419 (1982) [as printed: Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp., 458 U. S. 419 (1982); Dissent (Justice Stevens)] episode

(+40 more named aloud; see the website)

Full list of 339 citations not read aloud: https://opinion-of-the-court.pages.dev/ep/070-lucas-v-south-carolina-coastal-council

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Hanna v. Plumer, 380 U.S. 460 (1965)

Full notes and cites: https://opinion-of-the-court.pages.dev/ep/069-hanna-v-plumer

Official text (U.S. Reports, Library of Congress): https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep380/usrep380460/usrep380460.pdf

Full text of the opinions, AI-narrated (Kokoro-82M, voice af_heart). Original introduction; opinion text is public domain. Not legal advice.

Eleanor Hanna, an Ohio citizen, sued the executor of a Massachusetts driver's estate in federal court in Massachusetts after a car accident in South Carolina. She served the executor by leaving the papers at his home, as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allow. A Massachusetts statute required delivery in hand to an executor within one year. Under Erie, the executor argued, Massachusetts law had to control.

Chief Justice Warren, for the Court, held that when a Federal Rule directly governs the question, Erie's analysis does not apply. The Rule controls so long as it is valid under the Rules Enabling Act and the Constitution. Warren also refined Erie's outcome test with its "twin aims": discouraging forum-shopping and avoiding inequitable administration of the laws.

Justice Black concurred. Justice Harlan concurred separately, proposing that the real question was whether a rule would substantially affect primary decisions about private conduct. Hanna is the second half of every Erie lecture.

Citations: reporter citations were shortened or left out of the audio; every citation is listed on the website.

Cases named aloud

- Guaranty Trust Co. v. York, 326 U.S. 99 [as printed: Guaranty Trust Co. v. York, 326 U. S. 99; Concurrence (Mr. Justice Harlan)] (episode link pending)

- Ragan v. Merchants Transfer Co., 337 U.S. 530 [as printed: Ragan v. Merchants Transfer Co., 337 U. S. 530; Concurrence (Mr. Justice Harlan)] (episode link pending)

- Sibbach v. Wilson & Co., 312 U.S. 1 [as printed: Sibbach v. Wilson & Co., supra; Opinion of the Court (Mr. Chief Justice Warren)] (episode link pending)

- Mississippi Pub. Corp. v. Murphree, 326 U.S. 438 [as printed: Mississippi Pub. Corp. v. Murphree, 326 U. S. 438; Opinion of the Court (Mr. Chief Justice Warren)] (episode link pending)

- Swift v. Tyson, 16 Pet. 1 [as printed: Swift v. Tyson, 16 Pet. 1; Opinion of the Court (Mr. Chief Justice Warren)] (episode link pending)

- 1938. Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 [as printed: R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U. S. 64; Opinion of the Court (Mr. Chief Justice Warren)] episode

- Schlagenhauf v. Holder, 379 U.S. 104 [as printed: Schlagenhauf v. Holder, 379 U. S. 104; Opinion of the Court (Mr. Chief Justice Warren)] (episode link pending)

- Cohen v. Beneficial Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541 [as printed: Cohen v. Beneficial Loan Corp., supra; Opinion of the Court (Mr. Chief Justice Warren)] episode

- Doyle v. Moylan, 141 F.Supp. 95 (D. C. D. Mass. 1956) [as printed: Doyle v. Moylan, 141 F. Supp. 95 (D. C. D. Mass. 1956); Opinion of the Court (Mr. Chief Justice Warren)] (episode link pending)

- Spaulding v. McConnell, 307 Mass. 144 (1940) at 146 [as printed: Spaulding v. McConnell, 307 Mass. 144, 146, 29 N. E. 2d 713, 715 (1940); Opinion of the Court (Mr. Chief Justice Warren)] (episode link pending)

(+5 more named aloud; see the website)

Full list of 59 citations not read aloud: https://opinion-of-the-court.pages.dev/ep/069-hanna-v-plumer