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Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Malone6/5/1998
m the sale and manufacture of Kaylo, relates to "the situation of the parties" under Kraus and to the size of the punitive damages award necessary to sufficiently punish and deter OCF, other parts are inadmissible. See Kraus, 616 S.W.2d at 910; see also Lunsford, 746 S.W.2d at 472. The Frank transcript and the McOmber affidavit include evidence about the average value of resolved claims, litigation expenses, and prior payments for actual damages. Evidence about past settlements for actual damages does not necessarily aid the fact finder in deciding what amount of punitive damages will satisfy the policy goals of punishment and deterrence. See Dunn, 1 F.3d at 1390-91; Pittsburgh Corning Corp., 901 F.2d at 281-82. As we have explained, evidence of past settlements must specify the amount allocated for punitive damages. Actual damage settlements or awards and litigation expenses in other cases are not relevant to the policy purposes supporting punitive damage awards. See Dunn, 1 F.3d at 1390-91; Pittsburgh Corning Corp., 901 F.2d at 281-82. Unlike evidence of other punitive damage settlements or awards against OCF, included as punishment for the same course of conduct, evidence of actual damages and expenses in other cases is inappropriate because each case is fact specific and unrelated to the particular plaintiffs here. See Pittsburgh Corning Corp., 901 F.2d at 281-82; see also Malone Serv. Co., 829 S.W.2d at 769 (" vidence of differing outcomes in unrelated cases . . . could cause incalculable prejudice.")(Gonzalez, J., Concurring).
The trial court's ruling also excluded evidence about insurance, 62,000 unresolved asbestos claims, and about twenty-eight judgments for punitive damages totaling almost $52 million, most of which OCF has not paid. Although evidence about pending and estimated future claims and unpaid judgments (including evidence about insurance coverage for those claims or judgments) may be relevant to a defendant's economic condition, the trial court properly excluded evidence of such contingent liabilities, some or all of which may never be paid, on the grounds that such evidence is likely to confuse the issues and to mislead the jury. See Tex. R. Evid. 403; Roginsky, 378 F.2d at 839; Stevens, 57 Cal. Rptr.2d at 537; Baker, 744 P.2d at 173. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by excluding evidence about these matters.
While we agree with OCF that evidence about the profitability of its misconduct and about punitive damages paid for the same course of conduct should be admissible in mitigation of punitive damages, the record does not support OCF's argument that the trial court's ruling probably caused the rendition of an improper judgment. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.1. As we have detailed, OCF's "enough is enough" evidence does not reveal that imposing punitive damages in this case exceeds the goals of punishment and deterrence. Indeed, the record shows that OCF has only paid $3 million in punitive damages for Kaylo-related claims. Moreover, after the trial court's ruling that OCF could introduce evidence about its negative net worth to help support its "enough is enough" argument, OCF did not introduce any such evidence. OCF essentially passed on its right to present evidence about its financial condition to the jury to support its "enough is enough" argument. Accordingly, we hold that the trial court's error, if any, was harmless error. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.1; Gee, 765 S.W.2d at 396. OCF also complains about additional trial court evidentiary rulings that the court of appeals' opinion details. For the reasons the court of appeals expressed, we agree that the trial court's errors, if any, did not cause rendition of an improper judgment. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.1.
A
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