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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nancy Dugan, 202-944-2809 March 31, 2009Center
for Constitutional Litigation, P.C. “DIGs” Big Tobacco The Center for Constitutional Litigation, P.C.,
a national law firm devoted to arguing appellate cases that remove impediments to justice, won a major victory today when
the U.S. Supreme Court “dismissed as improvidently granted” a case brought to the court by tobacco giant Philip
Morris.
By dismissing the case, the Court let stand a $79.5 million punitive damages verdict awarded by an Oregon jury ten years ago to the widow of Jesse Williams, a man who died of lung cancer. “I am thrilled with the Supreme Court’s order today in Philip Morris USA v. Williams,” says CCL firm President Robert Peck, who argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court December 3rd, 2008. The December argument was the third time the tobacco company challenged the jury verdict there.“It was ten years ago yesterday that a jury decided this case,” says Peck. “Within six months of that verdict, cigarette companies admitted for the first time that their products caused cancer. Since that time, Philip Morris has engaged in a war of attrition in the courts – using its superior resources to deny justice through costly delay and endless appeals. Today, we can say that it may be possible to delay justice, but you cannot deny it.”The Court dismissed the case without handing down an opinion. Consequently, the punitive damage award approved by the Supreme Court of Oregon will stand. Peck continued: “On the bigger question of the size of punitive damages, which the Court did not address, it is worth noting that the Court has had three opportunities to make a decision concerning the 97:1 ratio in this case and chose not to. While it is speculation to read anything into that, it does seem that the Court has sent a signal that truly reprehensible misconduct will outweigh concerns about single-digit ratios or comparability with existing fines, which those who seek to avoid full punishment assert.”Williams’ Oregon attorneys, who have successfully litigated this case at every level in the Oregon courts over the last decade, William Gaylord, James Coon, Raymond Thomas, Charles Tauman, Maureen Leonard, and Kathryn Clarke, held a press conference with plaintiff Mayola Williams in Portland, Oregon today at 1:30 p.m. Portland time.### |
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