Garrity v. Lyle Stuart, Inc.

Although espousing a desire to obviate a "trap for the unwary” and a "Shylock principle of doing business without a Portia-like escape” (p 359), the majority reaches a result favoring a guileful defendant and voids a just and rational award of punitive damages to a wholly innocent and deserving plaintiff. Stripped to its essence the defendant, by willful and fraudulent guises, refused to pay plaintiff royalties known to be due and owing to her; forced her to commence actions claiming fraudulent acts and to enforce arbitration to redress the wrongs done to her and to *361collect the sums…