Oregon's Court of Appeals has overturned a 2002 jury verdict that had ordered Philip Morris to pay $150 million in punitive damages to the estate of Michelle Schwarz, of Salem, who died of lung cancer. The case has been sent back to the circuit court to reconsider the amount of punitive damages. Philip Morris attorneys had argued that the jury should have followed a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that recommended there should be no more than a 9-to-1 ratio between punitive damages and other compensatory damages.
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