Murphy v. Hobbs
Colorado Supreme Court
5 P. 119 (1884)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
The plaintiff brought a civil action against the defendant to recover damages for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment. The jury found in favor of the plaintiff and the judge gave the jury instructions permitting it to award punitive damages “as a punishment to defendant.” The jury did, in fact, award the plaintiff punitive damages. The defendant appealed, arguing that the jury instructions authorizing punitive damages were improper.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Helm, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 788,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.