Supreme Court Rejects State's Appeal in Excessive Fine Case

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Colorado’s appeal of a decision finding the penalty assessed against a business that operated without workers’ compensation insurance for more than four years was unconstitutionally excessive because the employer couldn’t afford to pay it. The nation’s highest court on Monday rejected a petition the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment filed Nov. 14, 2019, asking whether the excessive fines clause in the Eighth Amendment applies to corporations and, if so, “whether and to what extent it requires consideration of a...