In 2011 a law was passed in Tennessee to protect businesses from hefty punitive damages awards in cases of civil wrongdoing, placing a cap on punitive damages — awarded in cases in which a jury finds the wrongdoer acted maliciously, fraudulently or recklessly — no matter a jury’s decision on the amount to be paid."The law was designed to improve the State’s business climate and its economy by offering businesses a way to quantify risk with some degree of predictability and, thus, encourage businesses to create jobs in Tennessee by locating and expanding here." The cap is currently $750,000.

In late December 2018, the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals struck down the Tennessee law as unconstitutional.

"The Appeals Court ruling is a result of a jury penalizing Jackson National Life Insurance Co. with $3 million in punitive damages for bad behavior in trying to keep from shelling out $350,000 in life insurance benefits to two children whose father died in 2013".

Now, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III, a host of business lobbyists and a handful of state legislators are intervening in the case, trying to get the appeal decision overturned and get the case in front of the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Ah, yes. Protect business, not individuals.