Robertson Oil Company, Inc. v. Phillips Petroleum Company

I respectfully dissent. Cases like this must have been on the mind of the Supreme Court when, in Pacific Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U.S. 1, 111 S.Ct. 1032, 113 L.Ed.2d 1 (1991), it said “[w]e note once again our concern about punitive damages that ‘run wild.’ ” Id. at 17-18, 111 S.Ct. at 1043. My concern comes in three parts and dates back to Robertson Oil Co. v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 871 F.2d 1368 (8th Cir.1989) (Robertson I).

I

In Robertson I, as noted in the majority opinion, we analyzed several theories of recovery advanced by the plaintiff, found all but one of them wanting, and…