Readers concerned about punitive damages law have their eyes on Wyeth LLC v. Scroggin.  The case involves a woman who allegedly developed cancer after taking hormone therapy drugs. (The FDA continues to approve the drugs as safe and effective.) The plaintiff contends that Wyeth was negligent in failing to include a stronger warning on its label, and that she would not have taken the drug if the warning had been stronger. The district court conducted a bifurcated trial
before a single jury, with liability determined first and punitive damages determined second. In the first phase, the jury found for plaintiff and awarded $2.7 million in compensatory damages. In the second phase, the same jury determined that defendant was liable for punitive damages of $19.4 million. Wyeth LLC v. Scroggin, 554 F.Supp.2d 571 (E.D. Ark. 2008). On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit overturned the punitive damages award, ruling that the award was tainted by the admission of improper evidence during the punitive damages phase of the trial. But rather than ordering an entirely new trial, the appeals court ordered a partial new trial limited to punitive damages only. Scroggin v. Wyeth, 586 F.3d 547 (8th Cir.2009).

Wyeth is seeking Supreme Court review of the denial of its request for an entirely new trial.  Permitting a tort plaintiff to preserve his compensatory damages award at the same time that he pursues punitive damages before a separate jury is unfair to defendants, and it is likely to lead to increases in punitive damages awards. Partial retrials limited to punitive damages violate jury trial rights protected by the Seventh Amendment. The Petition for Cert here, 78 USLW 3566 (3/16/10), describes in detail the sharply conflicting views of the federal appeals courts regarding the circumstances under which partial retrials in jury cases are consistent with the Seventh Amendment, both generally, and specifically with respect to partial retrials confined to punitive damages. It is fair to say some lower courts have struggled to apply the Seventh Amendment standards set forth in Supreme Court precedent, and that the appeals courts have adopted divergent and irreconcilable approaches.

The Washington Legal Foundation submitted an amicus brief on this issue. In its brief urging the Supreme Court to grant review, WLF argued that the Seventh Amendment prohibits such partial retrials limited to punitive damages. WLF argued that the Seventh Amendment “right to trial by jury” has long been understood to constitute those jury trial rights that existed under the English common law when the Seventh Amendment was adopted in 1791. At common law there was no practice of setting aside a verdict in part. If the verdict was erroneous as to any issue, a new trial was directed as to all issues, so that all related issues could be decided by a single jury. Where the issue to be re-tried is related to issues already decided by the first jury, partial retrials create a danger that the second jury will be confused when told that some issues have already been decided.  WLF has argued that in this case the principal issue at any retrial on punitive damages (whether defendant acted sufficiently culpably in failing to provide stronger cancer warnings to merit a punitive award) is substantially similar to an issue decided in the first trial (whether it acted sufficiently culpably in failing to provide stronger cancer warnings to merit an award of compensatory damages).  The similarity of the two issues creates a significant danger of jury confusion, and the Seventh Amendment requires the plaintiff either to accept $2.7 million as her total compensation or to retry her entire case before a new jury.

WLF notes that considerable empirical evidence suggests that permitting partial retrials regarding punitive damages exacerbates the unpredictability of punitive damages awards. Moreover, the evidence suggests that permitting such partial retrials is a considerable disadvantage to tort defendants, who on average are likely to face larger monetary judgments than if a single jury considers all related tort claims.