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philip morris usa and state farm mutual automobile insurance co. - All News and Analysis

• Previous rulings on punitive damages

  - 2008-02-26

  Latest Supreme Court decisions curtailing punitive damages awards: Philip Morris USA v. Williams (2007) -- The court threw out a $79.5 million award to a smoker's widow, saying jurors were not properly limited in their consideration of harm caused to people who were not part of...

  Tags: Philip Morris USA, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

• Will Exxon punitive damages ruling spill over into due process questions?

  - 2008-01-01

  In October, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Exxon Shipping Co. v. Grant Baker, which involves a challenge to the large punitive damages awarded in litigation over the Exxon Valdez oil spill. (1) Significantly, the Court granted review of only some of the questions presented, which...

  Tags: Exxon Mobil Corp., Philip Morris USA, Prince, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

• Working the Unworkable Rule Established in Philip Morris: Acknowledging the Difference Between Actual and Potential Injury to Nonparties

  - 2007-09-01

  I. INTRODUCTION Over the past fifteen years, legal scholarship dedicated to the topic of punitive damages has increased significantly.1 This increase is principally due to United States Supreme Court decisions that changed the punitive damages landscape.2 Prior to these decisions, the individual states retained almost exclusive control of punitive damages...

  Tags: Auto, BMW AG, Campbell, conduct, Gore, Philip Morris USA, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., U.S., Williams

• High court considers punitives.(Philip Morris USA vs. Mayola Williams)

  - 2006-11-06

  Byline: MARK A. HOFMANN WASHINGTON-The Supreme Court may use a tobacco liability case to determine whether due process guarantees allow a jury to levy punitive damages on a defendant for the effects of its conduct on people who are not a party to ...

  Tags: conduct, Philip Morris USA, punitive damage, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

• Supreme Court to revisit issue of appropriate punitive awards; Tort reform backers hope for more clarity.

  - 2006-06-05

  Byline: MARK A. HOFMANN WASHINGTON-Tort reform advocates hope that the Supreme Court will use an Oregon case to clarify further when a punitive damage award is so disproportionate to underlying compensatory damages as to become unconstitutional. Byline: MARK A. HOFMANN ...

  Tags: Philip Morris USA, punitive damage, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

• Oregon Supreme Court upholds punitives against Philip Morris.

  - 2006-04-01

  Agreeing with arguments made by the Center for Constitutional Litigation CCL and a group of Oregon ATLA members, the supreme court of that state ruled in February that a $79.5 million punitive damages verdict against Philip Morris should stand. (Williams v. Philip Morris, Inc., Nos. CC...

  Tags: Oregon, Philip Morris USA, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

• Groups complain justice should have recused self.(News)

  - 2006-02-07

  Byline: Rob Olmstead Daily Herald Staff Writer Three good-government groups are scheduled to file a complaint today with the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board alleging an Illinois Supreme Court justice should have recused himself from billion- dollar cases because he took millions in campaign money...

  Tags: Philip Morris USA, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

• Tort reformers cheer class action ruling in Illinois; State Farm claimants rejected.(News)

  - 2005-08-22

  Byline: MARK A. HOFMANN Tort reform advocates are hailing as a significant victory last week's Illinois Supreme Court ruling that a lower court erred in granting class action status to a diverse group of State Farm policyholders who claimed the in Byline: MARK...

  Tags: class action, judge, Philip Morris USA, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., theory

• California Supreme Court Grants Review of $9 Million Punitive Award in Henley Case

  - 2004-04-28

  Business Editors NEW YORK--BUSINESS WIRE--April 28, 2004 The California Supreme Court today agreed to review a lower appellate court's decision ordering Philip Morris USA to pay a smoker who contracted cancer $9 million in punitive damages in addition to $1.5 million in compensatory damages. The Court, in...

  Tags: California Supreme Court, Philip Morris USA, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.