An Oregon case pitting sick smokers against Philip Morris will be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court for a third time, AFP reported June 9.

In 1999, an Oregon court ruled that the tobacco company's advertising campaigns were partly to blame for the death of a smoker and awarded $520,000 to the widow of Jesse Williams and $79.5 million in punitive damages, which -- with interest -- has grown to $145 million today.

In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court voided the award, saying that punitive damages should not be more than 10 times the amount of compensatory damages, and returned the case to the Oregon courts.

In 2006, the Oregon Supreme Court reinstated the award, citing the exceptional damage done by the company to state residents. Again, the U.S. Supreme Court returned the case to the state, saying that juries could not focus on damages done to all smokers in Oregon, but rather just the plaintiffs in the case. But the Oregon Supreme Court invoked a point of state law to again affirm the award.

In accepting the case again, the U.S. Supreme Court said it won't focus on the award amount but rather the state court's authority to go against its decision.