496
O'Connor, J., dissenting
gage in searching review. Instead it added insult to injury, applying cavalier standards in the course of a cursory examination of the case. Because the review afforded TXO was insufficient to conform with the criteria this Court approved in Haslip, the case at least should be remanded for constitutionally adequate postverdict review.
A
Two Terms ago, this Court in Haslip upheld Alabama's punitive damages regime against constitutional challenge. Although the Court recognized that juries in Alabama receive limited instructions regarding punitive damages, see 499 U. S., at 6, n. 1, 19-20, it was reassured by the fact that the Alabama courts subject punitive verdicts to exacting postverdict review at two different levels. First, Alabama trial courts must indicate on the record their " 'reasons for interfering with a jury verdict, or refusing to do so, on grounds of excessiveness.' " Id., at 20 (quoting Hammond v. Gadsden, 493 So. 2d 1374, 1379 (1986)). Second, the Alabama Supreme Court itself provides an additional "check" by conducting comparative analysis and applying detailed substantive standards—seven in all—thereby "ensur[ing] that the award does not exceed an amount that will accomplish society's goals of punishment and deterrence." 499 U. S., at 21 (internal quotation marks omitted). Specifically, the Alabama Supreme Court examines:
"(a) whether there is a reasonable relationship between the punitive damages award and the harm likely to result from the defendant's conduct as well as the harm that actually has occurred; (b) the degree of reprehensibility of the defendant's conduct, the duration of that conduct, the defendant's awareness, any concealment, and the existence and frequency of similar past conduct; (c) the profitability to the defendant of the wrongful conduct and the desirability of removing that profit and of having the defendant also sustain a loss; (d) the 'financial
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