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No. 07-1216 PHILIP MORRIS USA v.MAYOLA WILLIAMS - BRIEF OF WASHINGTON LEGAL FOUNDATION AND ALLIED EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF PETITIONER (PDF) 

This Court’s prior ruling could not have been more clear--the due process clause "forbids a State to use a punitive damages award to punish a defendant for injury that it inflicts upon nonparties.., who are, essentially, strangers to the litigation." Philip Morris, 127 S, Ct. at 1063. Moreover, this Court held that the Due Process Clause "requires States to provide assurances that juries are not asking the wrong question," and in the process punishing defendants for harm to those strangers. Id. at 1064. That proposition was presented to this Court by petitioner after being rejected on the merits by not only the Oregon Supreme Court, but also the Oregon Court of Appeals (twice) and the trial court. Instead of faithfully applying this Court’s ruling on remand, however, the Oregon Supreme Court invoked a novel procedural rule--for the first time in nine years of this litigation--to avoid remedying the constitutional infirmities identified by this Court.

It is a fundamental and bedrock principle of American jurisprudence that the United States Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of cases or controversies that come before it.

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