This article investigates the determinants of the blockbuster punitive damages awards of at least $100 million. As of the end of 2008, there had been 100 such awards with an average value of $3.0 billion. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in State Farm v. Campbell suggested a single digit upper...

The distribution of blockbuster punitive damages awards has fat tails similar to the distributions of losses from natural disasters. Extremely large awards occur more often and are more difficult to predict than if blockbuster awards were distributed normally. The size and predictability of...

Debate has raged in recent years concerning the relationship of federal common law to customary international law. That debate has focused on the role of federal common law generally after the Supreme Court's 1938 decision in Erie R.R. v. Tompkins and how, in particular, the role of customary...