context: This is not to say that the statutory cap is completely irrelevant to the constitutionality analysis, at least in light of the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Zhang. That decision suggests that Title VII's statutory cap substitutes for a comparable civil penalty, the third BMW factor, as a yardstick of constitutionality of a punitive damages award in discrimination cases.
citation_a.signal: see also
citation_a.identifier: 513 F.3d 164, 164
citation_a.parenthetical: holding that the combination of the statutory cap and a high threshold for culpability for punitive damages in a Title VII case confined a punitive damages award within the cap to a level tolerated by due process
citation_a.sentence: See Zhang, 339 F.3d at 1045 (using Title VII’s statutory cap as a comparator in a § 1981 discrimination case, because there was no civil penalty for discrimination claims, and the statutory cap represented a legislative judgment similar to a civil penalty); see also Abner, 513 F.3d at 164 (holding that the combination of the statutory cap and a high threshold for culpability for punitive damages in a Title VII case confined a punitive damages award within the cap to a level tolerated by due process).
citation_b.signal: see
citation_b.identifier: 339 F.3d 1045, 1045
citation_b.parenthetical: using Title VII's statutory cap as a comparator in a SS 1981 discrimination case, because there was no civil penalty for discrimination claims, and the statutory cap represented a legislative judgment similar to a civil penalty
citation_b.sentence: See Zhang, 339 F.3d at 1045 (using Title VII’s statutory cap as a comparator in a § 1981 discrimination case, because there was no civil penalty for discrimination claims, and the statutory cap represented a legislative judgment similar to a civil penalty); see also Abner, 513 F.3d at 164 (holding that the combination of the statutory cap and a high threshold for culpability for punitive damages in a Title VII case confined a punitive damages award within the cap to a level tolerated by due process).