Supreme Court Overturns $79.2 Million Dollar Punitive Verdict Against Philip Morris
Today, the United States Supreme Court overturned the Oregon Supreme Court's determination that a $79.2 million dollar punitive award was appropriate. The facts and procedural wranglings in the case can be read in the Wall Street Journal, but I thought the opinion deserved some comment. The Court reasoned that the award essentially penalized the cigarette maker for harms to those other than the plaintiff, and was not directed at the "reprehensibility" of Philip Morris' conduct.
Let's forget for a moment that a $79.2 million penalty to a company like Altria (formally Philip Morris) is the equivalent of a parking ticket. In a case like this, how do you not consider the harms to a society when determining the penalty to the wrongdoer? As Justice Stevens writes in his dissent, "A murderer who kills his victim by throwing a bomb that injures dozens of bystanders would be punished more severely than one who harms no one other than his intended victim."