FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—October 31, 2006                              Contact: Brendan LaCivita

National Chamber Litigation Center Seeks Supreme Court Clarity in Punitive Damages Case

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Robin Conrad, Senior Vice President of the National Chamber Litigation Center (NCLC), issued the following statement on the Supreme Court’s hearing of oral arguments in Philip Morris v. Williams, the first punitive damages case to be heard by the high court since its landmark 2003 decision in State Farm v. Campbell that requires a reasonable relationship between punitive and compensatory damages:

“State and federal courts are in need of guidance to clarify when juries may impose punitive damages and the standards they should apply in awarding them. If guidance already provided by State Farm is not reaffirmed and clarified by the high court and followed by the lower courts, businesses will continue to face excessive punitive damages awards that destroy jobs and companies and hurt the economy.             

“We urge the high court to reaffirm its decision in State Farm requiring a reasonable relationship between punitive and compensatory damages, suggesting a single-digit ratio of no more than nine-times compensatory damages. We urge the Supreme Court to clarify that juries may not impose punitive damages for conduct that occurred to others not before the court, and that reprehensible conduct cannot nullify the single-digit ratio.”
 
NCLC—the public policy law firm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—is a membership organization that advocates fair treatment of business in the courts and before regulatory agencies. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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