<P> The plaintiff, Dr. Ira Gore, bought a new BMW, and later discovered that the vehicle had been repainted before he bought it . Defendant BMW of North America revealed that their policy was to sell damaged cars as new if the damage could be fixed for less than 3% of the cost of the car . Dr. Gore sued, and an Alabama jury awarded $4,000 in compensatory damages (lost value of the car) and $4 million in punitive damages, which was later reduced to $2 million by the Alabama Supreme Court . The punitive damages resulted not only from Dr. Gore's damages, but from BMW's egregious behavior across a broad spectrum of BMW purchasers over a multi-year period of time in which BMW repaired damaged vehicles and sold them as new to unsuspecting buyers as a matter of routine business operation . (L. Andrew Goggans, M.A.) (1) </P> <P> Whether excessively high punitive damages violate the Due Process clause of the Constitution . </P> <P> The Court, in an opinion by Justice Stevens, found that the excessively high punitive damages in this case violate the Due Process clause . For punitive damages to stand, the damages must be reasonably necessary to vindicate the State's legitimate interest in punishment and deterrence . Punitive damages may not be "grossly excessive" - if they are, then they violate substantive due process . </P> <P> The Supreme Court applied three factors in making this determination: </P>

According to the bmw of north america v. gore case excessive punitive damages violate what