Supreme Court hears arguments in Oregon Punitive Damages Case

The Court heard arguments today in Philip Morris USA v. Williams.  On review is a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court upholding an award of punitive damages of $79.5 million in a case where the plaintiff had been awarded a little over $800,000 in compensatory damages for harm caused to her husband by cigarettes, and by the defendant's fraudulent representations regarding the health risks posed by cigarettes.  The focus at the argument was on whether the Oregon courts had erred in rejecting a jury instruction proposed by defendant that would have informed the jury that it is impermissible to award punitive damages to punish a defendant for harm caused to others not presently before the court, even though it is permissible to consider such harm (orpotential harm) to others in assessing an appropriate amount of punitive damages to punish the defendant for harm caused to the plaintiff.  The Court appeared to think that the Oregon Supreme Court may have rejected the instruction for an incorrect reason, and discussed whether the case should be remanded for the Oregon Supreme Court to re-evaluate and clarify its reasons for rejecting the proposed instruction.  A transcript of the argument is available here.