The Supreme Court has twice ruled in the Phillip Morris U.S.A. vs. Williams case, each time ruling against the Oregon Supreme Court. You'd think the Oregon Supreme Court would get the hint to quit making unreasonable decisions, but I guess, they are slow learners on the West coast (there was a similar problem in 2000 in Florida, if you remember correctly).
Now, the Supreme Court has decided to rule a third time in the case.
The Supreme Court said Monday it will review a $79.5 million punitive damages judgment against Marlboro-maker Philip Morris for the third time.
The justices have twice struck down the award to the family of a longtime smoker of Marlboros, made by Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA.
Oregon courts have repeatedly upheld the judgment. The most recent ruling, in January, followed a high court decision last year that said jurors may punish a defendant only for harm done to someone who is suing, not other smokers who could make similar claims.
The justices will consider only whether the Oregon Supreme Court in essence ignored the U.S. high court's ruling, not whether the amount of the judgment is constitutionally permissible...
The award was for the family of Jesse Williams, a former Portland janitor who started smoking during a 1950s Army hitch and died in 1997, six months after he was diagnosed with lung cancer. A jury in Portland made the award in 1999...
The Oregon high court made its first decision in 2002, refusing to hear an appeal from Philip Morris.
Then the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the judgment of nearly $80 million, saying that punitive damages generally should be held to no more than nine times actual economic damages. It declined, however, to make that a firm rule.
In the Williams case, the family was awarded $800,000 in actual damages. the punitive damages are about 97 times greater. A state court previously cut the compensatory award to $521,000.
My mother died of lung cancer, so I know personally how painful the loss is. But that doesn't mean you should be suing the tobacco companies for what was, essentially, a voluntary decision to smoke for 50 years. Still, the courts are allowing such cases, but it is obvious that the SCOTUS is telling these runaway liberal courts to rein it in a bit.
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