Tony Mauro

February 21, 2007 | Law.com

The Supreme Court on Tuesday tossed out a $79.5 million punitive damage award won by a smoker's widow against Philip Morris, ruling that Oregon jurors improperly considered harm to other smokers in punishing the tobacco giant. By a 5-4 vote, the Court said that a state violates the Constitution's due-process clause when it uses a punitive damage award to punish a defendant for injuries suffered by "strangers to the litigation," in the words of Justice Stephen Breyer, who wrote the majority opinion.

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read

August 09, 2010 | Law.com

The Supreme Court term that just ended produced an unusually large number of cases that have had a nearly instant impact in courtrooms and on practitioners across the country. Citizens United v. FEC has already produced campaign finance rulings that are on their way back to the high court on appeal -- and key business rulings are being cited in new and pending cases. But two decisions that got fewer headlines are also producing a broad ripple effect, and both were written by now-retired Justice John Paul Stevens.

By Tony Mauro

7 minute read

January 10, 2007 | Corporate Counsel

Patent litigation could explode in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling Tuesday in a closely watched dispute over patent validity between two biotechnology firms. The opinion in MedImmune v. Genentech, written by Justice Antonin Scalia, overturns Federal Circuit doctrine in holding that patent licensees no longer have to breach the license in order to have standing to challenge the patent that they dispute. Patent lawyers say the ruling could lead to a flurry of challenges to existing patents.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

May 22, 2007 | Law.com

Private plaintiffs may be deterred from filing long-shot antitrust claims against big corporations because of a major Supreme Court ruling issued Monday. In Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, the Court said "a bare assertion of conspiracy will not suffice" to get beyond the summary judgment stage in claims under �1 of the Sherman Act. The suit, filed on behalf of a class of local phone and Internet service subscribers, claimed that regional phone companies had agreed not to compete on each other's turf.

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

April 27, 2010 | New York Law Journal

By Tony Mauro

3 minute read

March 31, 2010 | National Law Journal

The investment industry declared victory Tuesday as the Supreme Court ruled in a closely watched case that investor advocates had hoped would make it easier to challenge high fees charged by advisers in the $9 trillion mutual fund business. But industry critics also claimed a win, saying the decision allows plaintiffs to use the kinds of fee comparisons that could help them prove the fees are excessive. The disagreement over the meaning of the ruling likely foreshadows another wave of litigation over adviser fees.

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read

January 11, 2010 | National Law Journal

It wasn't exactly a lost fall for the U.S. Supreme Court, but, as the justices don their robes for the first oral arguments of 2010, starting today, there is a sense that the term is just now beginning to take shape. Blockbuster opinions, riveting oral arguments -- and a possible retirement -- loom in the next six months. One highly anticipated event, which may come as soon as Tuesday, is issuance of the long-awaited ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read

April 27, 2006 | The Recorder

In the first case of its kind, the Supreme Court seemed reluctant to place procedural barriers that would prevent death row inmates from mounting last-minute challenges to execution.

By Tony Mauro

4 minute read

September 28, 2011 | National Law Journal

Legal maneuvers on Wednesday made it likelier than ever that the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of the health care reform law during the coming term, with a decision likely to come down in the midst of the 2012 presidential campaign.

By Tony Mauro

5 minute read

June 26, 2008 | Law.com

A punitive damage award in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case that once amounted to $5 billion was knocked down to $507.5 million by the Supreme Court on June 25. The 5-3 majority said that in the maritime law context, there should be a 1:1 ratio between compensatory and punitive damages. A trial judge had awarded $507.5 million in compensatory damages to a class of fishermen who suffered losses from the 1989 oil spill, so Justice David Souter, who wrote the majority opinion, said the punitive award should match that figure.

By Tony Mauro

6 minute read