Shamblin's Ready Mix, Inc., a West Virginia Corporation v. Eaton Corporation, an Ohio Corporation Rsh, Inc., D/B/A Scott Equipment Company

BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge:

This conversion case is before us for the second time. In the first appeal we affirmed the district court’s judgment of $3,531 in compensatory damages but set aside the jury’s award of $600,000 in punitive damages because it was tainted by the plaintiff’s improper and highly prejudicial closing argument. We remanded for a new trial on the amount of punitive damages. Shamblin’s Ready Mix, Inc. v. Eaton Corp., 819 F.2d 1139 (4th Cir.1987) (unpublished). On remand the jury awarded the plaintiff $650,000 in punitive damages.

Because we find that the plaintiff based…