Oregon court restores punitives in smoker's case.

The Oregon Court of Appeals recently restored a $79.5 million punitive damages award against Philip Morris in the case of a smoker who died of lung cancer. (Williams v. Philip Morris, Inc., No. 9705-03957, A106791, 2004 WL 1259675 (Or. Ct. App. June 9, 2004).) CCL and several ATLA members in Oregon represented the smoker's family.

Jesse Williams smoked the defendant's products from the early 1950s until his death in 1997. The original suit, filed in Oregon by ATLA members James Coon, Ray Thomas, Bill Gaylord, Chuck Tauman, Maureen Leonard, and Kathryn Clarke, accused the tobacco company of negligent misrepresentation. "He died after believing misinformation Philip Morris had put out that said smoking didn't cause cancer," said Bob Peck, CCL president. The jury awarded the plaintiff $821,485 in compensatory damages and $79.5 million in punitive damages.

The court of appeals upheld the punitives award, the Oregon Supreme Court declined to take the case, and CCL was originally hired to oppose certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the High Court decided State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Co. v. Campbell (123 S. Ct. 1513 (2003)) and ordered the court that previously heard Williams to reconsider the case in light of the new, intervening case. CCL and Oregon counsel briefed the state court of appeals on those issues.

"The court of appeals' opinion tracks our arguments down the line," said Peck.

CCL argued that State Farm didn't establish any binding ratios for punitive damages--which the opinion stated explicitly--but instead "allowed a state to consider harm to its consumers.

The trial court had properly excluded any evidence of extraterritorial impact, said Peck, so its original analysis was not impaired by the principles that the State Farm decision found had been disregarded.

At press time, Philip Morris planned to appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court.