A case involving farmers and negligent contamination of long grain rice in Arkansas ended up setting important trends in the realm of punitive damages. It was upheld that Bayer CropScience and its predecessor, Aventis, contaminated the long-grain rice produce with genetically modified food. This negligent contamination was especially detrimental to the Arkansas farmers because many countries that import American domestic rice, including all countries in the European Union, prohibit the sale of genetically modified foods.

The jury ruled in favor of the farmers and awarded them $5.9 million in compensatory damages and $42 million in punitive damages. But this punitive damage award directly contradicted a decision made by Arkansas’ general assembly.

In 2003, the general assembly in Arkansas placed a blanket cap on the amount of punitive damages that could be awarded in a case. The Arkansas’s Civil Justice Reform Act of 2003 stated that punitive damages awards could not exceed $1 million per plaintiff.

However, the Arkansas Constitution states that no law should limit the amount a plaintiff can recover for injuries that cause death or damage to a person or property. Therefore, the court found the cap unconstitutional and affirmed the jury’s $42 million award in punitive damages. This decision set important precedence in Arkansas and overturned the decision made by the general assembly in 2003 to limit the amount a plaintiff can recover in punitive damages.