Category Archives: Tobacco
Walter Olson Knows The Difference Between Punitive And Compensatory Damages, Right?
I ask because over at Point of Law, he links to a post criticizing the $300 million dollar verdict against Philip Morris. The post badly distorts the law: Think for a minute about this theory of justice. Imagine applying it to, say, car accidents. By this logic, if a billionaire in a Rolls Royce crashed [...]
Philip Morris Makes Ten Million Bucks A Day?
Putting it in that light, a $244 million award for punitive damages doesn’t sound that high, does it? The Litigation Daily spoke with Naugle’s attorney, Robert Kelley of Kelley and Uustal, on Friday. We wanted to know, first of all, why this award was so much larger than those in previous Engle trials. One reason, [...]
Proof that lying and violating discovery orders pays
For proof, look no further than the actions of the tobacco industry: Last month, a Los Angeles jury awarded $13.8 million in punitive damages to the daughter of Betty Bullock, a smoker who had sued Philip Morris USA Inc. before she died of cancer. It was a huge loss — for the plaintiff. Just seven [...]
