Capitol Beat
Wednesday, February 5th, 2003 Catastrophe Liability Litigation PropertyPhilip Morris U.S.A. recently announced that it would request the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal of a 1999 punitive damage award of $79.5 million. That figure is 97 times the compensatory damages awarded in the case, the company noted. In December, the Oregon Supreme Court declined to review an appellate court’s decision in the Williams-Branch case. The jury initially had awarded the estate of Jesse Williams $79.5 million in punitive damages, but the trial judge reduced that award to $32 million. Subsequently, the Oregon Court of Appeals reinstated the jury’s original assessment of punitive damages. Under Oregon law, 60 percent of punitive damage awards goes to the state crime victims assistance fund. The state supreme court’s decision prompted the company to pursue other legal avenues.
