High court sets aside award in Philip Morris case [View All]

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Supreme Court rules the giant tobacco company cannot be punished for harm to other smokers, setting aside $79.5 million award.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A divided Supreme Court set aside Tuesday a $79.5 million punitive damages award won by a longtime smoker's widow against Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris unit.

By a 5-4 vote, the high court ruled the giant tobacco company could not be punished for harm to other smokers in a case involving Mayola Williams, an Oregon woman whose husband died of lung cancer in 1997 after smoking for more than 40 years.


http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/20/news/companies/philip_morris.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

In the majority opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the court said the verdict could not stand because the jury in the case was not instructed that it could punish Philip Morris only for the harm done to the plaintiff, not to other smokers whose cases were not before it.

States must "provide assurances that juries are not asking the wrong question … seeking, not simply to determine reprehensibility, but also to punish for harm caused strangers," Breyer said.

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