Bennett v. Grant

At issue in this case was how the harm likely to result from a malicious prosecution should be evaluated in calculating exemplary damages. The Supreme Court held that the potential harm analysis should focus only on the probable damages resulting from malicious prosecution, not the consequences of wrongful imprisonment. Defendant in this case failed to meet his burden of proving that the criminal justice system would ultimately fail to resolve this case correctly where the chances of wrongful imprisonment were essentially zero given the expired statute of limitations. Therefore, the court of appeals erred in considering imprisonment-related damages. The Supreme Court remanded the exemplary-damages award to the court of appeals for a more substantial remittitur. View "Bennett v. Grant" on Justia Law