| PAPER CHASE NEWSBURST |  
|
| Serious law. Primary sources. Global perspective. |
|
|
 |
|
 Tuesday, May 30, 2006 |
Supreme Court to hear Philip Morris punitive damages appeal
Jaime Jansen at 1:41 PM ET
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Tuesday granted certiorari in Philip Morris USA v. Williams [cert. petition and reply brief, PDF], 05-1256, a case involving the damages awarded in a wrongful death action against Philip Morris [corporate website] brought by the relatives of a longtime smoker. Earlier this year, the Oregon Supreme Court upheld a jury award of $80 million [opinion text; JURIST report] in punitive damages because the marketing tactics of Philip Morris were "reprehensible." The US Supreme Court in 2003 ordered the same Oregon court to reconsider the 1999 jury award, stating that punitive damages should generally parallel actual damages.
Philip Morris has argued that the state high court's decision conflicts with the 2002 US Supreme Court ruling in State Farm v. Campbell [opinion], which set guidelines for calculating punitive damages. Read the Court's full Order List [PDF text]. AP has more. SCOTUSblog has additional coverage.
Link |
|
|
print |
subscribe |
 |
latest newscast |
 Facebook page
| For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often... |
|
|
| ABOUT | |
|
|
Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format.
|
|
|
