Justices turn down Philip Morris appeal of $25M judgment
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has rejected Philip Morris USA's appeal of a $25 million punitive damages award to the family of a dead smoker in Oregon.
The justices on Monday are leaving in place a state appeals court ruling that likened the cigarette maker's role in smoker Michelle Schwarz's death to manslaughter under Oregon law, had the case been pursued in criminal court.
Schwarz started smoking in 1964 at age 18. She switched to the low-tar cigarette the company began selling in 1976 because of her concerns about the health effects of smoking.
Schwarz died in 1999 at age 53 from a brain tumor caused by lung cancer that had metastasized.
The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld a Portland jury's $25 million award, citing Philip Morris' "extreme reprehensibility."
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Appeal from parishioners of closed church rejected by court
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from parishioners who are occupying a church that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston closed more than a decade ago.
The justices are not commenting on their order Monday in the case involving the St. Frances X. Cabrini church in Scituate, Massachusetts.
The parishioners have said they would leave within 14 days of a high court order.
They have occupied the church since the archdiocese closed it in 2004 as part of a broad restructuring.
The Supreme Court order leaves in a place a judge's decision to evict the parishioners in a civil trespass case brought by the archdiocese.
The case is Rogers v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, 15-1105.
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Court refuses appeal in Arab-American festival dispute
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is leaving in place a court ruling that found police in Michigan violated the rights of Christian activists who were ordered to leave an Arab-American festival in suburban Detroit.
The justices are not commenting Monday in rejecting an appeal from Wayne County.
The federal appeals court in Cincinnati held that police violated the free-speech rights of members of the Bible Believers group. They showed up at the festival in 2012 carrying a pig's head and telling Muslims they would "burn in hell."
Wayne County sheriff's deputies told them to leave or be ticketed after the evangelists were pelted with rocks.
The case is Wayne County v. Bible Believers, 15-1090.
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Justices won't touch $236M verdict in Exxon Mobil pollution
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court will not hear Exxon Mobil's appeal of a $236 million judgment for its use of a gasoline additive that contaminated groundwater in New Hampshire.
The court's order Monday leaves in place a jury verdict involving contamination by the chemical MTBE.
Exxon Mobil wanted the judgment thrown out because New Hampshire was not required to prove that individual water supplies were contaminated. The Irving, Texas-based company also said it is not responsible for contamination caused by gasoline spills at junk yards and independent gas stations.
MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, is a petroleum-based gasoline additive that has been used since the 1970s to reduce smog-causing emissions.
It was found in the 1990s to contaminate drinking water supplies when gasoline is spilled or leaks into surface or groundwater.
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Plaza protest appeal rejected
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is passing up a free speech case right in its own front yard.
The justices on Monday rejected an appeal from a man who says he has a right to stage a protest on the court's marble plaza.
The court's action comes without comment from the justices and leaves in place an appellate ruling that said the high court can bar protesters from the 20,000-square-foot, open-air plaza without violating their constitutional rights.
The appeal by Harold Hodge Jr. stemmed from his arrest in 2011 for being on the plaza while wearing a sign that criticized police treatment of blacks and Hispanics.
Protests are confined to the public sidewalk directly in front of the plaza.
The case is Hodge v. Talkin, 15-863.
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Court says investor lawsuit can remain in state court
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court says a lawsuit alleging securities fraud under New Jersey law can remain in state court even though the same claims could have been brought under federal law.
The unanimous ruling on Monday is a win for investors who often find it tougher to win shareholder class action cases before federal judges than in state courts.
The justices sided with a group of shareholders who say Merrill Lynch traders used illegal tactics to depress the value of a stock. Merrill Lynch said the lawsuit belonged in federal court because the claims include violations of federal securities law.
But the court sided with the plaintiffs, saying it didn't matter that the claims were similar to those that could have been made under federal securities law.
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Justices give narrow win to Internet site in false data case
By Sam Hananel
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Monday handed a narrow victory to an Internet search firm that was sued for posting false information about people, ruling that consumers could bring legal challenges only if the errors caused actual harm.
The 6-2 ruling threw out an appeals court decision in favor of Thomas Robins, a Virginia resident who sued Spokeo.com after it posted an online profile about him that was riddled with errors about his age, education, employment and marital status.
But the high court sent the case back for further proceedings, giving Robins another chance to show exactly how he might have been harmed.
The case was closely watched by Facebook, Twitter and other technology firms seeking to avoid costly litigation over the use of inaccurate data.
They were concerned about lawsuits that could expose them to billions of dollars of damages for even trivial violations of statutes protecting consumer privacy rights.
Consumer rights advocates had sought a broader ruling that would let people sue without showing a real injury.
In the end, the court's decision gave both sides something to like.
Spokeo's website offers a searchable database that lets subscribers look up personal information about anyone. The profile at issue incorrectly stated Robins' age, that he had a graduate degree, was employed, wealthy and married with children. In fact, Robins was single, unemployed and looking for work. His economic status was far lower than described.
He claimed the false information damaged his job prospects. Spokeo argued that being falsely portrayed was not enough to show Robins was really harmed.
Robins sued under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, which requires consumer reporting agencies to offer accurate information. The law allows victims to collect damages of up to $1,000 each without having to show the mistakes caused any specific harm. It was intended to keep companies from compiling false information that could jeopardize a person's ability to get loans or find work.
Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said a person cannot show an injury simply by claiming a "bare procedural violation" of the credit reporting statute. But he also acknowledged that Congress has the power to identify "intangible harms" that also meet the minimum requirements.
Alito said the Supreme Court took no position on whether the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made the right decision. But he said it applied the wrong legal standard. The majority ordered the appeals court to determine whether Robins had shown a "concrete" injury."
As an example, Alito said publishing an incorrect zip code for someone would likely not cause any concrete harm.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented. Ginsburg said Robins had shown he was harmed because Spokeo's inaccuracies created the false impression he was overqualified for work he was seeking or that he might be unwilling to relocate for a job due to family.
Spokeo praised the court for ruling that so-called "no injury" class-action lawsuits can't move forward.
"The court's standard will make it much harder to turn individual cases like this one into million-member class actions," said Spokeo spokeswoman Vanessa Flores Waite.
But Jay Edelson, a lawyer representing Robins, said he was pleased the court failed to adopt the "real world" injury test that some business groups had pushed. He said he was "confident" the lower court would agree that Spoke disseminated "the type of false information that Congress was concerned about" when it passed the credit reporting law.
Published: Wed, May 18, 2016
