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Attacking the Root of the Punitive Damages Problem
On Feb. 20, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision on punitive damages in Philip Morris USA v. Williams, __ S.Ct.__ , 2007 WL 505781 when it found a jury's $79.5 million punitive damage award, assessed in conjunction with $821,000 in compensatory damages for negligence and deceit in misleading a smoker to believe that smoking was safe, was unconstitutional. Instead of reducing yet another runaway punitive damage award, the 5 to 4 majority of the Court attacked the root of the problem: unfair punitive damages trial procedures.
This decision may indicate that the Court, operating under Chief Justice Roberts, is considerably more aggressive in protecting the constitutional rights of punitive damage defendants than was the Rehnquist Court. While the latter generally addressed punitive damages every two to three years, it tended to reduce punitive damage awards on substantive due process grounds. The Williams case presented the Roberts Court with an easy opportunity to do the same. Instead, the Roberts Court changed the rules, and required change to the trial court procedures, which frequently generate unconstitutionally excessive punitive damage awards. This is a very significant win for defendants, hopefully indicating the future direction of the Roberts Court on punitive damages.
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