Kohn v. Diedrich
After a jury awarded Kohn $500,000 in punitive damages only (no compensatory damages) on her counterclaims arising from her ex-boyfriend's harassing conduct, the trial court denied remittitur but granted a new trial on punitive damages, analyzing the motion solely under the remittitur statute, section 768.74. The Second District held this was the wrong standard, reversed, and remanded for the trial court to evaluate the new trial motion under the common law standard of Brown v. Estate of Stuckey and Wackenhut v. Canty.
Key facts
- Kohn sued her ex-boyfriend Diedrich for harassing conduct; a jury awarded Kohn $500,000 in punitive damages only, with no compensatory damages awarded.
- The trial court denied Kohn's motion for remittitur but granted a new trial on punitive damages, applying only the remittitur statute standard under section 768.74.
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Why it matters
This opinion reinforces the Second District's Marinec rule that remittitur analysis under section 768.74 is not a substitute for the common law new trial standard, and it gives practitioners a clean citation for… — full analysis with a trial
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