Supreme Court Dismisses Philip Morris USA Inc. v. Williams

On March 31, 2009, the Supreme Court issued a one-sentence per curiam order dismissing as improvidently granted the writ of certiorari in Philip Morris USA Inc. v. Williams, No. 07-1216.

In the decision below, the Supreme Court of Oregon upheld a $79.5 million punitive-damages award even though it was based in part on harm to people who were not parties to the lawsuit, in contravention to federal due process law. The basis for the affirmance was an Oregon state rule that a party cannot complain of a trial court's refusal to give a proposed instruction unless the instruction was "clear and correct in all respects. . . and altogether free from error." The Oregon court held that Philip Morris's proposed instruction was not free from error because it misstated Oregon law in two respects, so state law did not require the trial court to give the instruction. The Supreme Court granted review to consider whether the Supreme Court of Oregon had improperly asserted a state-law procedural bar that prevented consideration of a due process challenge to a punitive damages award. In its per curiam order issued today, however, it dismissed the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted.