8th Circuit cuts $60 million punitive damages award to $24 million in Tony Alamo case

As reported by the Associated Press, the Eighth Circuit has reduced a $60 million punitive damages award to $24 million in a case involving televangelist Tony Alamo, who ordered beatings of the plaintiffs when they were young boys working for his ministry.  The opinion in Ondrisek v. Bernie Lazar Hoffman, aka Tony Alamo, describes the defendant’s conduct as extremely reprehensible, but concludes that in light of the substantial $6 million compensatory damages award, $24 million is the constitutional maximum for the punitive damages award.