Txo Production Corp. v. Alliance Resources Corp., et al. (509 U.S. 443)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 25, 1993 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 509 U.S. 443 · 113 S. Ct. 2711
- Decided
- June 25, 1993
- Term
- October Term 1992
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which The Chief Justice and Justice Blackmun join, and in which Justice Kennedy joins as to Parts I and IV. In a common-law action for slander of title, respondents obtained a judgment against petitioner for $19,000 in actual damages and $10 million in punitive damages. The question we granted certiorari to decide is whether that punitive damages award violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, either because its amount is excessive or because it is the product of an unfair procedure. I On August 23, 1985, TXO Production Corp. (TXO) commenced this litigation by filing a complaint in the Circuit Court of McDowell County, West Virginia, for a declaratory judgment removing a cloud on title to an interest in oil and gas development rights. Respondents, including Alliance Resources Corp. (Alliance), filed a counterclaim for slander of title that went to trial before a jury in June 1990. The jury verdict in respondents’ favor, which has been affirmed by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, makes it appropriate to accept respondents’ version of disputed issues of fact. In 1984, geologists employed by TXO concluded that the recovery of oil and gas under the surface of a 1,002.74-acre tract of land known as the “Blevins Tract” would be extremely profitable. They strongly…
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