Download or read book Constitutional Limits on Punitive Damages Awards written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Courts sometimes award punitive (or exemplary) damages in addition to compensatory damages. Compensatory damages redress the "loss the plaintiff has suffered by reason of the defendant's wrongful conduct." Punitive damages serve the dual purposes of deterrence and retribution, and are viewed as "quasi-criminal" and as "private fines"; the Supreme Court has defined their imposition as "an expression of [the jury's] moral condemnation." In a 5-4 decision on February 20, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated and remanded the Oregon Supreme Court's decision in Philip Morris USA v. Williams, a case in which the Oregon Supreme Court held that a punitive damages award of $79.5 million did not violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court had granted certiorari to consider "[w]hether, in reviewing a jury's award of punitive damages, an appellate court's conclusion that a defendant's conduct was highly reprehensible and analogous to a crime can 'override' the constitutional requirement that punitive damages be reasonably related to the plaintiff's harm." The Court had further agreed to consider "[w]hether due process permits a jury to punish a defendant for the effects of its conduct on non-parties." Holding that the Due Process Clause does not allow a jury to base the amount of a punitive damage award on the jury's "desire to punish the defendant for harming persons who are not before the court," the Court then declined to examine whether the $79.5 million award was "grossly excessive." This report summarizes decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court in relevant punitive damages cases, discusses lower court rulings in Philip Morris USA v. Williams, analyzes arguments in the appeal of the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, examines factors the Court considered in its decision, and elucidates concerns for the future.