Alaimo v. Royer

This is an appeal from a jury verdict finding the defendant liable for fraud. The defendant’s principal claims of error challenge the trial court’s instructions with regard to the plaintiff’s burden of proof and the plaintiff’s entitlement to both punitive and exemplary damages.

Prom the evidence presented at trial the jury might reasonably have found the following facts. Catherine Alaimo, the plaintiff, was a woman in her mid-sixties, living alone, when she met Clement H. Royer, the defendant, at a real estate investment club. The plaintiff, who suffers some physical and mental disabilities…