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First, Singh contends that Rawat and the Trust were not served. But he lacks
standing to make this claim. (See In re J.T. (2011) 195 Cal.App.4th 707, 717.)
Moreover, we have already rejected similar claims raised by Rawat.
Second, Singh claims that he should not be subject to punitive damages in the
absence of evidence of his financial condition. This echoes the same claim raised by
Rawat, and we give the same answer: By disobeying the court order to produce evidence
of his financial condition, Singh has forfeited this claim.
Third, Singh claims that a punitive damage award cannot exceed three times the
compensatory award. We disagree with this contention, insofar as it presents a purely
facial challenge to the punitive damages award, not an as-applied challenge, because
Singh does not state the facts fairly. (See Foreman, supra, 3 Cal.3d at p. 881.)
The punitive damages award was just under four times the compensatory damages
award (350,000/87,894 = 3.982). Our Supreme Court has held punitive damages should
rarely exceed a single-digit multiplier. (See Nickerson v. Stonebridge Life Ins. Co.
(2016) 63 Cal.4th 363, 367 [“Absent special justification, ratios of punitive damages to
compensatory damages that greatly exceed 9 or 10 to 1 are presumed to be excessive”];
Simon v. San Paolo U.S. Holding Co., Inc. (2005) 35 Cal.4th 1159, 1181-1183.) The
high court has stated “an award of more than four times the amount of compensatory
damages might be close to the line of constitutional impropriety.” (State Farm Mut. Ins.
v. Campbell (2003) 538 U.S. 408, 425 [155 L.Ed.2d 585, 606], italics added.) The ratio
in this case was below that suggested line, and therefore is not facially infirm. (See
Izell v. Union Carbide Corp. (2014) 231 Cal.App.4th 962, 984, 988 [upholding punitive
damage award reflecting a 4.62 to one ratio compared to the compensatory award].)
Singh’s reliance on Hale v. Morgan (1978) 22 Cal.3d 388 (Hale), is not
persuasive. Hale involved a statutory penalty of $100 per day for wrongfully cutting off
a tenant’s utilities under a former version of Civil Code section 789.3. (See Stats. 1971,
ch. 1274, § 1, pp. 2494-2495.) Because the utilities were off for 173 days, the trial court