If there were any lingering doubts about whether the Supreme Court’s February 2007 decision on punitive damages in Philip Morris USA v. Williams had teeth, the Court has moved quickly to remove those doubts.
On May 14 it ordered a California appeals court to reconsider its $82.6 million award in Ford Motor Co. v. Buell-Wilson. The California court must now consider whether the $55 million punitive damages component of its award took into account harm to individuals other than the plaintiff. Philip Morris established the principle that courts can take into account harm to non-parties in determining the reprehensibility of the defendant’s conduct, but cannot factor that harm directly into a punitive damages award.
