View source for Philip Morris USA Inc. v. Williams

{{Infobox SCOTUS case
  |Litigants=Philip Morris USA v. Williams
  |ArgueDate=October 31
  |ArgueYear=2006
  |DecideDate=February 20
  |DecideYear=2007
  |FullName=Philip Morris USA, Petitioner v. Mayola Williams, Personal Representative of the Estate of Jesse D. Williams, Deceased
  |Docket=05-1256
  |Docket2=07-1216
  |USVol=549
  |USPage=346
  |ParallelCitations=127 S. Ct. 1057; 166 [[Lawyers' Edition|L. Ed. 2d]] 940; 2007 [[LexisNexis|U.S. LEXIS]] 1332; 75 U.S.L.W. 4101; [[CCH (company)|CCH]] Prod. Liab. Rep. ¶ 17,676; 20 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 80
  |Prior=
  |Subsequent=On remand, 176 [[Pacific Reporter|P.3d]] 1255, 344 Or. 45 (2008), cert. granted in part, {{Ussc|553|1093|2008|el=no}}, cert. dismissed as improvidently granted, {{Ussc|556|178|2009|el=no}}
  |Holding=[[Due Process Clause|Due Process]] bars punitive damages for harm caused to individuals not involved in the litigation.
  |Majority=Breyer
  |JoinMajority=Roberts, Kennedy, Souter, Alito
  |Dissent=Stevens
  |Dissent2=Thomas
  |Dissent3=Ginsburg
  |JoinDissent3=Scalia, Thomas
  |LawsApplied=[[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|U.S. Const. amend. XIV]]
}}
'''''Philip Morris USA v. Williams''''', 549 U.S. 346 (2007), 556 U.S. 178 (2009), was a decision by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]], which held that the [[due process]] clause of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] limits [[punitive damages]], and ordered a lower court to reconsider its damages awards on that basis.

==Trial court decision==
Mayola Williams, the widow of Jesse D. Williams, who died of smoking-related [[lung cancer]] in 1997, sued [[Philip Morris USA]], a [[Tobacco industry|cigarette manufacturer]],<ref name="trial verdict">{{cite news|last=O'Neill|first=Patrick|title=Philip Morris told to pay $81 million in damages to the estate of Jesse Williams|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/1999/03/philip_morris_told_to_pay_81_m.html|accessdate=3 December 2011|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=March 21, 1999}}</ref> for [[fraud]] based on Philip Morris advertisements and sponsored studies that made cigarettes seem less dangerous than they actually were. At [[trial]] in 1999, the jury found for Williams and awarded her $821,485.50 in [[compensatory damages]] and $79.5 million in punitive damages.<ref name="trial verdict"/> At that time, the verdict was the largest against a tobacco company.<ref name="trial verdict"/> The trial court found that the compensatory damages exceeded the state cap and the punitive damages were "grossly excessive". It reduced the respective amounts to $521,485.50 and $32 million.

==Appeals==
On appeal, the [[Oregon Court of Appeals]] reversed and reinstated the $79.5 million judgment. Following the "guideposts" established in ''[[BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore]]'', the Court of Appeals examined whether the punitive damages were appropriate based on (1) the degree of reprehensibility of the conduct, (2) the disparity between the actual harm and the punitive damages, and (3) the difference between the punitive damages and civil penalties allowed in similar cases. While determining the reprehensibility of Philip Morris's actions, the court considered the length of the misinformation campaign and the number of people it had reached, concluding that its actions were so reprehensible that they justified punitive damages 97 times greater than the actual damages. The [[Oregon Supreme Court]] denied review.

The [[Supreme Court of the United States]] then granted ''[[certiorari]]'', and in the 2007 decision [[Vacated judgment|vacated]] the Court of Appeals' judgment, [[Remand (court procedure)|remanding]] the case to the Oregon Court of Appeals for that court to reconsider the amount of the punitive damages award in light of ''[[State Farm v. Campbell]]''.<ref name=back>{{cite news|last=Pope|first=Charles|title=Oregon tobacco judgment back before Supreme Court|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/12/oregon_tobacco_judgement_back.html|accessdate=December 3, 2011|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=December 3, 2008}}</ref>

==Later decisions==
The Court of Appeals again reinstated the $79.5 million judgment.<ref name=back/> On appeal, the Oregon Supreme Court affirmed, also holding that the courts can consider evidence of similar conduct to other people in Oregon–even those not party to the lawsuit–when awarding punitive damages.<ref name=back/> Philip Morris then appealed again to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008, arguing that the Oregon Supreme Court ignored the guidance the U.S. Supreme Court had given as to punitive damages.<ref name=back/> In March 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court in essence affirmed the lower court decision when it withdrew their writ of ''certiorari''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Roberts|first=Michelle|title=Portland woman beats Big Tobacco: 10-year battle for $80 million ends at U.S. Supreme Court|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/04/portland_woman_beats_big_tobac.html|accessdate=December 3, 2011|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=April 1, 2009}}</ref><ref>''Philip Morris USA Inc. v. Williams'', {{ussc|556||2009|docket=07-1216}}.</ref>

Philip Morris then paid Williams $61 million, as under Oregon law the state collects 60% of all punitive awards and places those funds into a compensation fund for crime victims.<ref name="green 2011">{{cite news|last=Green|first=Aimee|title=Oregon Supreme Court orders $99 million award against Philip Morris|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/12/oregon_supreme_court_orders_99.html|accessdate=December 2, 2011|newspaper=[[The Oregonian]]|date=December 2, 2011}}</ref> After Philip Morris paid Williams, it then fought the state over paying the remaining amount in punitive damages to the state, claiming that the [[Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement|tobacco settlement signed by Oregon in 1998]] prevented Oregon from collecting.<ref name="green 2011"/> The Oregon Supreme Court again disagreed with Philip Morris in December 2011 and ruled that they had to pay the remaining punitive damages, which after interest then totaled $99 million.<ref name="green 2011"/>

==See also==
*[[List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 549]]
*[[List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 556]]
*[[List of United States Supreme Court cases]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{caselaw source
 | case=''Philip Morris USA v. Williams'', {{Ussc|549|346|2007|el=no}}
 | findlaw=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=05-1256
 | justia=http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/549/05-1256/
 | googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?&hl=en&as_sdt=40000006&case=3002949669360902078&scilh=0
}}
{{Philip Morris International}}

[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases]]
[[Category:United States civil due process case law]]
[[Category:2007 in United States case law]]
[[Category:2009 in United States case law]]
[[Category:United States tobacco case law]]
[[Category:Philip Morris litigation]]
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court]]
[[Category:Smoking in the United States]]