Estate of Schwarz ex rel. Schwarz v. Philip Morris Inc.

The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment1 prohibits a jury from imposing punitive damages to punish a defendant directly for harm caused to non-parties. However, a jury may consider evidence of harm to others when assessing the reprehensibility of the defendant’s conduct and the appropriate amount of a punitive damages verdict. Philip Morris USA v. Williams, 549 US 346, 356-57, 127 S Ct 1057, 166 L Ed 2d 940 (2007) (Williams II). In this “low-tar” tobacco case, we decide that the trial court correctly refused defendant’s requested instruction that would have informed the jury on the…