September 27, 2007

POS 282--Intro. to Amer. Law
In class today, Thursday 9/27, we finished going over Chapter 1(!). We also began our discussion of Chapter 2 regarding capital punishment. I distributed a homework assignment which I'm repeating below. The assignment is due next Thursday, 10/4.


POS 282 Introduction to American Law Sol Goldman
September 27, 2007

The assignment for Thursday, October 4, 2007 is

1) Re-read Johnson v. Ford Motor Company at p. 91 of the text.

2) Go to the website for the Medill School of Journalism, and read this article about a recently decided U.S. Supreme Court case, Philip Morris v. Williams (February 20, 2007) (R-17, 2006 Term):

http://docket.medill.northwestern.edu/archives/003687.php

3) Using the link at the bottom of the Medill article (or going directly to the U.S. Supreme Court site
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06slipopinion.html)

read the opinions (majority and dissenting) of the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the punitive damage award in this case.

This case involved a civil suit by a smoker who died from his smoking, and who was mislead by the tobacco company into believing that smoking was safe.

4) Write a paper (approximately 2 double-spaced pages) summarizing in your own words what the majority found to be the trouble with the way that the punitive damages issue had been presented to the jury. Also write a summary of the positions of each of the dissenting opinions. Finally, evaluate as well as you can whether the California Supreme Court decision in Johnson is affected by the Philip Morris decision (and, if so, how).