After Fitzgerald Fruit Farms won compensatory damages against Whitaker Farms for locking it out of leased orchard property, a second trial produced a punitive-damages award. The Supreme Court of Georgia took up whether statements made during settlement negotiations were properly admitted at that punitive-damages trial under Georgia Rule of Evidence 408. It held that they were not, vacated the Court of Appeals decision, and remanded. The court ruled that the statements were inadmissible settlement-negotiation evidence under the rule and that the lower appellate court had erred in approving their use. The remaining question on remand was whether that evidentiary error was harmful enough to require a new trial on punitive damages.