Oregon's $79.5M tobacco ruling upheld

SALEM, Ore., Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Calling conduct by Philip Morris "extraordinarily reprehensible," the Oregon Supreme Court upheld a multimillion dollar award against the tobacco company.

The court handed down a unanimous ruling that a $79.5 million punitive damage judgment was not out of line, even if it was nearly 100 times the jury-awarded compensatory damages, the Portland (Ore.) Oregonian reported.

The decision comes three years after the U.S. Supreme Court said the original ruling should be reconsidered, the newspaper said.

The lawsuit was filed by the family of Jesse Williams, a longtime smoker in Portland, Ore., who died of lung cancer in 1997. The family's attorneys argued that Philip Morris had known for decades that smoking was detrimental to the health of its customers.

In a decision written by Justice Michael Gillette, the court said: "Philip Morris' conduct here was extraordinarily reprehensible, by any measure of which we are aware. It put a significant number of victims at profound risk for an extended period of time. The state of Oregon treats such conduct as grounds for a severe criminal sanction, but even that did not dissuade Philip Morris from pursuing its scheme."