So our Supreme Court has decided that big tobacco would be hurt too badly by the $79.4 million punitive damage settlement was too much for the damages to just one smoker.
The 5-4 ruling was a victory for Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA, which contested an Oregon Supreme Court decision upholding the verdict.
In the majority opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the court said the verdict could not stand because the jury in the case was not instructed that it could punish Philip Morris only for the harm done to the plaintiff, not to other smokers whose cases were not before it.
(flip)
I'm honestly not sure what to think about this matter. I mean, they have a point, but what good is a much smaller fine which they can brush off? Isn't a punitive award supposed to hurt the punished party?
Does this just mean that a class action needs to step in, or is this door slammed in smokers' collective faces?
And what of this interesting mix, in the 5-4 decision?
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and David Souter, joined with Breyer.
Dissenting were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens and Clarence Thomas.
Roberts and Alito on one side, Scalia and Thomas on the other? Is this typical for them?
I'm so very glad I never started smoking.