Court rejects Philip Morris $9 million award appeal

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The U.S Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA in a California case involving $9 million in punitive damages awarded to a former longtime smoker who has lung cancer.

Without comment, the justices declined to consider the tobacco company’s appeal arguing that the case should be reviewed by the Supreme Court or at least sent back for further consideration.

The case involved Patricia Henley, who sued Philip Morris after developing lung cancer.

Her attorneys argued at trial that there were no warnings on cigarette packages when she began smoking in 1961 and that the company had hidden evidence about the health risks of smoking and its addictive properties.

A jury in 1999 initially awarded her $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages, but the trial judge cut the punitive damages award in half.

After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2003 that put new limits on punitive damages, a state appeals court cut the amount awarded to Henley to $9 million.

In its appeal, Philip Morris argued that the case should be sent back for further consideration in view of a 2001 Supreme Court decision that held that federal law pre-empted Massachusetts cigarette advertising restrictions.

The company also argued that a new trial should have been granted, rather than simply reducing the amount of money awarded, when a jury’s punitive damages award was based on constitutionally impermissible considerations.

The Chamber of Commerce business group supported the appeal. But attorneys for Henley said the issues actually decided by the California courts were not worthy of Supreme Court review.

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