No. 5-99-0830 IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ... - Appellate.net
No. 5-99-0830 IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ... - Appellate.net
No. 5-99-0830 IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ... - Appellate.net
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NATURE <strong>OF</strong> <strong>THE</strong> CASE<br />
This is an appeal from the largest judgment ever entered in Illinois ($1.18 billion),<br />
which includes the largest award of punitive damages ever made anywhere in the United<br />
States against an insurance company ($600 million). Plaintiffs were awarded this massive<br />
judgment for alleged breaches of contract and consumer fraud arising out of State Farm’s<br />
fully disclosed practice of specifying automobile replacement parts made by a company<br />
other than the vehicle’s manufacturer (“non-OEM” parts) when estimating the costs of some<br />
repairs. Trial was bifurcated. The jury considered the breach of contract claim and rendered<br />
a verdict against State Farm for $456,180,000 in compensatory damages. The circuit court<br />
then awarded plaintiffs an additional $130,000,000 in “disgorgement” damages and<br />
$600,000,000 in punitive damages under the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act (“ICFA”).<br />
On appeal, State Farm seeks reversal of the judgment below and decertification of<br />
the plaintiff class, which consists of more than 4.7 million State Farm policyholders from<br />
48 states and the District of Columbia who received repair estimates over a 10½-year period<br />
specifying approximately 33,000 different types of non-OEM parts. In the alternative, State<br />
Farm seeks at the very least a new trial in light of a variety of errors committed by the circuit<br />
court in a misguided attempt to make this case manageable as a class action. State Farm also<br />
seeks elimination or reduction of the unprecedented punitive damages award on the ground,<br />
among others, that it was beyond the circuit court’s power to punish State Farm for engaging<br />
in conduct that is expressly permitted under the laws of a majority of states and not<br />
prohibited by any state.<br />
<strong>No</strong> issues are raised on the pleadings.