(Supreme) Court will again review $79.5M award in tobacco case

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: Associated Press via Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- 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.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/09/AR2008060900681.html?hpid=moreheadlines

[gratuitous]

1. Actually, the Supremes haven't "struck down" the award

They keep sending it back to Oregon for further review under this standard or that standard, and the Oregon Supreme Court considers this standard or that standard, and reaffirms the award. Looks like the U.S. Supreme Court can't get anyone else to do its dirty work for them.

Actually, the law on punitive damages at the time of the trial in this case was that state trial courts could consider only the harm a defendant had done to citizens of that state, not nationwide. Now the Supreme Court would like punitive damages to be rendered against a defendant only for the harm done to an individual plaintiff and no one else, which is sort of antithetical to the very premise of punitive damages.

Keep the target moving, and corporations can literally get away with murder for manufacturing a deadly and dangerous product.