How long will the appeals take?
As explained on the Home Page of this site, here, on October 7, 2009, the Oregon Supreme Court issued orders allowing review of the decision by the Oregon Court of Appeals. The Plaintiff Class has asked the Oregon Supreme Court to reverse the Court of Appeals reduction in the amount of punitive damages and to restore the amount to $8,000,000. The Oregon Supreme Court also set a deadline of twenty-eight days for the parties to file their opening briefs and a date for oral argument on March 2, 2010. We do not know how long the Oregon Supreme Court will take after oral argument to decide the appeal. If the Courts decision upholds an award of punitive damages to the Plaintiff Class, the defendant insurance companies may have a right of discretionary appeal to the United States Supreme Court on that issue. We do not know whether the United States Supreme Court would agree to hear that appeal, nor do we know how long it would take for the United States Supreme Court to decide the appeal.
