Photo of Bexis

Today, the Supreme Court granted certiorari a third time in Philip Morris v. Williams, the oft appealed case involving a punitive damages award in the range of 100-1. See the order here (third page of PDF). The grant is limited, however, to the first issue, which is quite limited – it’s only whether a state court can supersede a constitutional ruling by the Supreme Court on the basis of a previously unconsidered procedural ground. The Court declined to take the broader question of excessiveness.
The Supreme Court also issued a partial argument list for the October Term. Wyeth v. Levine is notable by its absence from this list. The first argument on the list, leading off on 10/6/08, is an interesting tobacco quasi-product liability case, Altria v. Good, concerning preemption and “light cigarette” marketing litigation.
Thanks to SCOTUSBlog for both of these links.