Tuesday's ruling leaves in place the verdict in favour of Mayola Williams, whose husband Jesse died of lung cancer after smoking two packs of Marlboros cigarettes a day for 45 years. During the 10-year court battle, the judgment's value has grown to about $145 million with interest.
Williams argued the award was appropriate because it punishes Philip Morris' misconduct for a decades-long "massive market-directed fraud" that misled people into thinking cigarettes were not dangerous or addictive.
Punitive damages are money intended to punish a defendant for its behaviour and to deter repetition. Williams said her husband never gave any credence to the surgeon general's health warnings about smoking cigarettes because tobacco companies insisted they were safe.
The cigarette maker, however, argued a jury can punish the company only for the harm done to Williams, not to other smokers.
With files from the Associated Press
Copyright © CBC 2009
March 31, 2009
USA: Top court dismisses tobacco company's appeal of $79.5M judgment
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TORONTO, Ontario / CBC News / World / March 31, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by tobacco company Philip Morris USA over $79.5 million US in punitive damages that were awarded to the widow of a longtime smoker.
In Tuesday's one-sentence ruling, the top court said the appeal was dismissed as "improvidently granted."
Philip Morris, whose parent company is Altria Group Inc., argued in the appeal the Oregon Supreme Court had defied an earlier U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case.
Tuesday's ruling did not decide on the merits of the dispute.
Oregon's top court has repeatedly upheld a verdict against Philip Morris USA from a fraud trial in 1999.
Tuesday's ruling leaves in place the verdict in favour of Mayola Williams, whose husband Jesse died of lung cancer after smoking two packs of Marlboros cigarettes a day for 45 years. During the 10-year court battle, the judgment's value has grown to about $145 million with interest.
Williams argued the award was appropriate because it punishes Philip Morris' misconduct for a decades-long "massive market-directed fraud" that misled people into thinking cigarettes were not dangerous or addictive.
Punitive damages are money intended to punish a defendant for its behaviour and to deter repetition. Williams said her husband never gave any credence to the surgeon general's health warnings about smoking cigarettes because tobacco companies insisted they were safe.
The cigarette maker, however, argued a jury can punish the company only for the harm done to Williams, not to other smokers.
With files from the Associated Press
Copyright © CBC 2009
Tuesday's ruling leaves in place the verdict in favour of Mayola Williams, whose husband Jesse died of lung cancer after smoking two packs of Marlboros cigarettes a day for 45 years. During the 10-year court battle, the judgment's value has grown to about $145 million with interest.
Williams argued the award was appropriate because it punishes Philip Morris' misconduct for a decades-long "massive market-directed fraud" that misled people into thinking cigarettes were not dangerous or addictive.
Punitive damages are money intended to punish a defendant for its behaviour and to deter repetition. Williams said her husband never gave any credence to the surgeon general's health warnings about smoking cigarettes because tobacco companies insisted they were safe.
The cigarette maker, however, argued a jury can punish the company only for the harm done to Williams, not to other smokers.
With files from the Associated Press
Copyright © CBC 2009
