California Court of Appeal

Yanes v. Orea: Punitive Damages Portion of Default Judgment Reversed

August 4, 2009

The California Court of Appeal (Fourth Appellate District, Division Two) issued an unpublished opinion reversing the portion of a default judgment that awarded $411,688.79 in punitive damages. The plaintiff failed to serve a statement requesting a specific amount of punitive damages, which is a prerequisite to obtaining punitive damages by default. We have seen this before. (See our prior posts here and here.)

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