Jus Brasil: Supreme Court revises criteria for large claims in the United States

Supreme Court revises criteria for large claims in the United States
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Posted by Express News (extracted by JusBrasil) - 9 years ago
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The Supreme Court of the United States may restrict the constitutional limits on damages actions, starting with the revision of an indemnity of US $ 79.5 million granted by the courts of the State of Oregon to the widow of a smoker in a lawsuit against the Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris unit. In the assessment of experts, the case could have significant implications for establishing criteria for compensation in cases of damage caused by products in the United States. It is expected that the Court will reduce the compensation value considered excessively high and disproportionate to the harm caused to the victims.

Philip Morris, the largest cigarette manufacturer in the world and cancel the compensation granted in the case of Jesse Williams, an Oregon man who smoked Marlboro for 42 years until he died of lung cancer in 1997 at age 67. It is estimated that smoking kills 400,000 Americans each year. The company claims that the jurors blamed the company for the health problems of other smokers Oregon State.

The dispute reaches the Supreme Court as one of the most important business cases in recent years, especially for companies facing a multitude of litigants seeking large damages. The group includes Merck & Co., which is fighting more than 11,000 consumers, due to the forced retiradada of its painkiller Vioxx market, as determined by the authorities. Another company that follows the case with particular attention is the Ford, facing hundreds of actions involving the damage caused by his sport-utility vehicle Explorer.

CRITERIA

The struggle waged by Philip Morris will be the first test in cases of damage caused by products for the two newest members of Sujprema Court John G. Roberts Jr (photo). and Samuel A. Alito Jr. Four of the seven judges of the court have supported limits for cases of compensation for damage caused by products, in cases tried between 1996 and 2003.

In 1999, the compensation fixed by the jury in the case of Williams reached US $ 821,485 in compensatory damages, an amount that has been cut to US $ 521,485 because of the limits vigentesno Oregon State for damages. At the time, the decision was considered the highest compensation against a cigarette manufacturer.

Philip Morris expects a cut in compensation, to be set at approximately $ 130 million. Still, it would be the largest compensation awarded to an individual smoker, exceeding the amount of US $ 82.5 million that same Philip Morris paid in March in a similar case in California.

Some analysts expect the review of the Supreme Court in this case could help in the near future, the tobacco companies to limit the compensation paid in hundreds of pending smoking processes of final judgment.

The largest americanois business groups have resorted frequently to the Supreme Court to reduce the values ​​of some compensation m, ilionárias granted to consumers in lower courts.

The OREGON CASE

Jesse Williams started smoking cigarettes for Philip Morris in the 50s, while serving in the Army in Korea, and continued smoking three packs a day until he died of lung cancer in 1997. Mayola Williams, Jesse's widow, claimed in court that her husband refused adeixar smoking in part because of government guarantees on the part of Philip Morris under which "cigarettes do not cause cancer."

The case is making his second trip to the highest court of the nation. In 2003, told the justices that the Oregon courts to reconsider the award in light of the decision to State Farm. The Oregon Supreme Court supported the then award a second time.

The jury accepted the claims of Mayola Williams with regard to negligence and fraud, granting compensation for economic losses amounting to US $ 21,485 and, by way of damages "not economic", the amount of US $ 800,000 in each formulated claim . In the negligence claim, the jury also found that there was negligence on the part of Williams in 50% of the damage origin and therefore did not condemn the company. But the jury determined the indemnity Williams at US $ 79.5 million in damage caused by the company on the fraud charge.

ARGUMENTS OF PHILIP MORRIS

The Court of Oregon reinstated the amount of US $ 79.5 million in compensation for moral and compensatory damages, and considered that this amount is not excessive because of the "notorious nature" of the conduct of Philip Morris for the damage that occurred to the consumer.

In short, Philip Morris argued in its defense that it does not follow that anyone was actually deceived by his advertising campaign 40 years ago, led to thousands of consumers Oregon. For the defense, even the simplest assessment, taking into account the properties causing the smoking addiction, indicate to anyone that the alleged advertising lies would not have been very persuasive.

The court rejected the arguments of Philip Morris that the court erred in rejecting its request for a decision addressed specifically to the allegation of fraud. The Court held, however, that the company's conduct had been "extraordinarily reprehensible" to follow continuously misleading the public about the dangers of smoking.

THE CHARGES

To the widow's lawyer, Philip Morris and the tobacco industry intended to deceive smokers as Williams and others, omitting the public the true risks of cigarrro. "As a smoker, Williams was one of the planned container industry of the message, and in fact, the jury could have found that he received his message and relied on their representations", say the lawyers in manifestation before the Court of Oregon. "The representations and messages released by industry affected the Williams decision to continue smoking and not make greater efforts to quit the habit," they emphasized.

Williams reminded the lawyers that when the family asked him to stop smoking, he said he had learned on television that the smoking does not cause lung cancer. After the disease diagnóistico, he blamed "people's cigarette" the betrayal, recalled the lawyers.

How was the exclusive use of the product manufactured by Philip Morris for vítiam over more than 40 years, it would be esatabelecido the causal link between the product - cigarettes - and fatal lung cancer contracted by Williams.

The oral presentation of the arguments of the parties before the Supreme Court may still happen in 2006.

Sources:

www.publications.ojd.state.or.us

www.tobacco.org
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