Philip Morris v. Williams - Post-Decision SCOTUScast
SCOTUScast 8-27-09 featuring Ted Frank
On March 31, 2009, the Supreme Court announced its decision in Philip Morris v. Williams. The Oregon Supreme Court, on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2007 decision on the constitutionality of a $79.5 million punitive damages award based on harms done to unnamed plaintiffs, asserted a state law procedural bar, which had the effect of preventing Philip Morris from asserting a constitutional claim. The issue for the U.S. Supreme Court was whether the Oregon Supreme Court improperly asserted the state law procedural bar. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, dismissed the case because it found that certiorari had been improvidently granted.
To discuss the case, we have the founder and president of the Center for Class Action Fairness, Ted Frank.
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