TXO Production Corp. v. Alliance Resources Corp.

Justice O’Connor,

with whom

Justice White joins, and with whom Justice Souter joins as to Parts II-B-2, II-C, III, and IV, dissenting.

In Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U. S. 1 (1991), this Court held out the promise that punitive damages *473awards would receive sufficient constitutional scrutiny to restore fairness in what is rapidly becoming an arbitrary and oppressive system. Today the Court’s judgment renders Haslip’s promise a false one. The procedures that converted this commercial dispute into a $10 million punitive verdict were wholly inadequate. Rather than producing a judgment…