This month's Newsletter is out.
- Brown v. Ralph's Grocery Find AT & T v. Concepcion Does not Apply to PAGA Representative Actions, by Katie McSweeney
- The Supreme Court Decides in Favor of Preemption When it Comes to Generic Drugs, by Bahar Dejban
- Court Makes Clear that Plaintiff-Employees can Recover Two Hours of Pay Per Day for Meal And Rest Violations, by Michael Boyamian
The Second District Court of Appeal, sitting here in Los Angeles, recently upheld a punitive award of $13.8 million against Philip Morris in a suit alleging the corporation “defraud[ed the plantiff] by deceptively marketing an addictive and lethal product in the years before the government required warning labels on cigarette packages.”
The jury awarded the plaintiff, the late Betty Bullock of Newport Beach, $850,000 in compensatory damages, making the punitive award just over 16 times that award, which Philip Morris maintains is “constitutionally excessive.” At the same time, Philip Morris reported over $6.3 billion in profits in 2010, making the punitive part of the award approximately 0.0460% of its yearly profits last year.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1996 that punitive damage awards, intended to punish Defendants and deter similar conduct in the future, may violate Due Process if the award proves “grossly excessive.” (BMW, Inc. v. Gore, 517 U.S. 559, 562) In order to make that determination, the Supreme Court considers several factors, including but not limited to, the reprehensibility of the Defendant’s conduct, the ratio to actual damages and the financial position of the defendant (Id. At 589-593).
Philip Morris is expected to appeal the decision to the California Supreme Court.
Scammers are targeting those purchasing green technology. Recently, there have been hundreds of complaints about contractors ripping off customers with solar panel sales. Many people are not as familiar with solar panels as more traditional home improvement projects, so scammers take advantage of consumers’ lack of information. Charles Bohmfalk paid over $7,000 for wind and solar panels that never generated any power, despite being promised $1,000 of power savings annually. The installing contractors ignored his complaints. Another man paid $12,000 for solar panels and was promised $2,000 in rebates, which was never paid, despite a year of constant complaints.
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