FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 9, 2008                                   Contact: Sheldon Gilbert

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Take Third Look at Oregon Punitive Damages Decision
In Philip Morris v. Williams (II), Court will reconsider $79.5 million punitive damages award

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to review a decision by the Oregon Supreme Court upholding a $79.5 million punitive damages award against Philip Morris.  The High Court already considered the 1999 verdict on two other occasions.

“For the third time, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the same award of punitive damages.  Last year, the Supreme Court made it very clear what constitutional standard the Oregon court was to apply, and the Oregon Supreme Court simply ignored it,” said Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the National Chamber Litigation Center (NCLC). “The Supreme Court has a chance to send the message that lower courts cannot thumb their noses at High Court decisions.”

In 2003 the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a 1999 jury award to the family of a deceased smoker and sent the case back to the Oregon courts.  After the Oregon courts allowed the verdict to stand, last year the U.S. Supreme Court considered the $79.5 million award once again.  On review, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Oregon Supreme Court decision, holding that juries may not consider the harm done to third parties when making an award of punitive damages.  The U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back, instructing the Oregon Supreme Court to apply the appropriate constitutional standard.  Instead of applying the constitutional standard outlined by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Oregon Supreme Court applied an independent state law standard and affirmed the award of punitive damages.  Philip Morris appealed, and NCLC urged the Court to review the Oregon decision, arguing that Oregon Supreme Court disregarded the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding that the award was unconstitutional. 

“Three trips to the Supreme Court says something about the problematic nature of outrageous punitive damages awards,” said Conrad.  “Punitive damages jurisprudence in the lower courts has become a bit like the ‘wild west’ – volatile and unpredictable – and the Court now has a chance to clean some of it up.”

NCLC is the public policy law firm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that advocates fair treatment of business in the courts and before regulatory agencies.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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NCLC