CALIFORNIA SMOKER'S $25 MILLION VERDICT CUT BY MORE THAN HALF.Citing the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling this year in State Farm v. Campbell, a California appellate court A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court. An unsuccessful party in a lawsuit must file an appeal with an appellate court in order to have the decision reviewed. has ordered a lung cancer lung cancer, cancer that originates in the tissues of the lungs. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States in both men and women. Like other cancers, lung cancer occurs after repeated insults to the genetic material of the cell. victim's $25 million award of punitive damages Monetary compensation awarded to an injured party that goes beyond that which is necessary to compensate the individual for losses and that is intended to punish the wrongdoer. against Philip Morris reduced to $9 million-six times her compensatory damages A sum of money awarded in a civil action by a court to indemnify a person for the particular loss, detriment, or injury suffered as a result of the unlawful conduct of another. of $1.5 million. The ruling was noteworthy in two respects: It came grudgingly grudg·ing adj. Reluctant; unwilling. grudg  ing·ly adv.Adv. 1. from a court that had previously affirmed the ruling, and it extended the concept of a ratio between compensatory and punitive damages from economic injury to personal injury cases, which the U.S. Supreme Court has not done. "In light of Campbell we do not believe the 17-to-1 ratio reflected in the present judgment can withstand scrutiny," Justice Patricia Sepulveda wrote for the three-judge First District Court of Appeal panel in Henley v. Philip Morris Inc. (A086991). "As we read the case, a double-digit ratio will be justified rarely, and perhaps never in a case where the plaintiff has recovered an ample award of compensatory damages." Patricia Henley claimed she first started smoking in 1961 or 1962, at the age of 15, having been misled by a tobacco industry campaign denying any link between smoking and serious illness, and became addicted ad·dict·ed adj. 1. Physiologically or psychologically dependent on a habit-forming substance. 2. Compulsively or habitually involved in a practice or behavior, such as gambling. . In 1997, she was diagnosed with lung cancer, which is now in remission, and she sued in 1999 under a new state law allowing individuals to recover for newly discovered smoking-related illnesses. A San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden Superior Court jury awarded her $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages, which the trial judge reduced to $25 million. The Court of Appeal already had affirmed the judgment, but the California Supreme Court remanded it for reconsideration in light of Campbell. "We conclude that in light of that decision, the $25 million on punitive damages awarded in this matter cannot be sustained on the present record, but that an award of $9 million would satisfy the constitutional standards enunciated in that case," Sepulveda wrote for the appellate panel. "According we will reverse for a new trial on punitive damages unless plaintiff agrees to a reduction of the judgment to reflect such smaller award. In all other respects we reiterate our previous decision." |
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