KATHERINE B. FORREST, District Judge.
This case was tried to the bench on September 19, 2016, through September 29, 2016. Following the trial, on March 24, 2017, the Court issued a preliminary Opinion & Order setting forth,
The preliminary Opinion & Order ordered the parties to submit certain information to the Court not later than April 7, 2017. (
In this case, significant penalties are appropriate given the public harm specifically sought to be addressed by the statutes at issue and given the egregious and prolonged nature of UPS's conduct. The Court is also troubled by UPS's consistent unwillingness to acknowledge its errors; UPS has persisted in claiming it did nothing wrong. While it is of course UPS's right to take this position, the Court appropriately considers this in determining what quantum of damages and penalties are appropriate.
Furthermore, in light of all the relevant facts, significant penalties are needed to deter future conduct. The Court finds that only significant penalties will have a sufficient impact such that the highest levels of executives at UPS will understand the cost of UPS's conduct and take effective action to prevent such conduct in the future. The Court is convinced that modest penalties would not make a sufficient corporate impact on UPS as a whole. Given what this case has demonstrated about UPS's size, complexity, and lack of willingness to change unless compelled to do so, a very significant award is necessary. Deterrence is a significant consideration here.
In making its damages and penalties determination, the Court is mindful of the constitutional principles requiring proportionality, as discussed in the Liability Opinion. The Court carefully considered whether, in the aggregate, the damages and penalties awarded are grossly disproportionate to remediation or deterrence under the Eighth Amendment. The Court concludes that the measure of damages and penalties awarded is fair and appropriate and comports with all applicable constitutional requirements, as discussed below.
As detailed in the Liability Opinion, the Court has found that plaintiffs have proven UPS's liability under the Assurance of Discontinuance ("AOD") and each statutory scheme at issue with respect to eighteen entities;
Plaintiffs filed their submission on April 7, 2017. (
Plaintiffs explained that their reported numbers of Packages and Cartons were the result of applying the relevant dates, definitions, and findings provided by the Court.
Defendant also filed its submission on April 7, 2017. (
Defendant made clear why it chose to provide information with regards to these three entities only: Defendant explained that it did so not because it was incapable of providing the information for the other entities as ordered by the Court—and as plaintiffs did—but because, according to defendant, these three entities were the only entities "that could potentially be considered in assessing damages or penalties because they are the only ones for which plaintiffs introduced evidence of shipments that UPS had an opportunity to test at trial." (
In the Liability Opinion, the Court provided a detailed discussion of the relevant legal principles concerning damages and penalties. The Court will not repeat those principles in full here. Nevertheless, the Court reiterates a few important considerations.
In general, civil penalties are designed in some measure "to punish culpable individuals" and not "simply to extract compensation or restore the status quo."
Furthermore, there is an "enormous range of penalties available to the district court in the usual civil penalty case."
In addition to the principles noted above, the Court is mindful of the Eighth Amendment's requirement of proportionality. Supreme Court precedent instructs courts, in determining whether a fine is proper or normal, to look to any legislative pronouncement on the issue and to consider the amount of the fine compared to the gravity of the offense, a deeply factual question.
In this case, the facts before this Court indicate that significant penalties are appropriate. First, the facts demonstrate a high level of culpability by UPS. Numerous separate acts by numerous UPS employees allowed vast quantities of unstamped cigarette shipments to be delivered to unauthorized recipients in New York. The New York Executive Branch and legislature, along with Congress, had specifically attempted to prevent this with the AOD, the PACT Act (which should have incented compliance with the AOD), the CCTA, and PHL § 1399-
The second factor is the public harm caused by the conduct. The state and federal legislatures have deemed transport of cigarettes to be a public health issue, and the effects of cigarette usage are well known. However, it is also the case that UPS is not the cigarette manufacturer or seller—it is a transporter. Thus, it bears a lower level of culpability for the impact on public health than other entities. In addition, it is unclear whether, in the absence of UPS's transport of cigarettes, the same public health effects would still be felt. The Court cannot speculate as to this. The Court focuses UPS's unlawful enablement of a public health impact that the political branches have proscribed and the costs of which New Yorkers must bear.
The third factor—defendant's profits from the violations—suggests a low amount of penalties. UPS has focused on its limited revenues and profits from its transport of the shipments at issue. But these are not the only relevant metrics. It is also the case that maintaining customers helps UPS's overall competitive position; if there are many UPS routes in an area, it is reasonable to infer that this assists the acquisition of business through network effects and economies of scale.
Finally, the Court weighs UPS's ability to pay a fine. UPS is a large company with significant assets. Its financial statements are a matter of public record. Not only can it handle a hefty fine, only a hefty fine will impact such a large entity sufficiently to capture the attention of the highest executives in the company—executives who then, in a rational economic move, will cause changes in practice and procedures to be strictly maintained. A fine in line with only the profits and revenues associated with the conduct at issue would not have this deterrent impact.
In accordance with the legal principles described above and in the Liability Opinion, the Court sets forth below its final determination as to the measure of aggregate damages and penalties appropriately awarded to plaintiffs New York State and New York City under the AOD and under each statutory scheme at issue. First, however, the Court sets forth a few additional points that have guided its analysis.
As they acknowledge, plaintiffs cannot receive double compensatory damages. Accordingly, the Court awards plaintiffs compensatory damages under the CCTA—and not the PACT Act—because plaintiffs are entitled to a greater amount of compensatory damages under the CCTA. With regards to penalties, plaintiff New York State is entitled to a stipulated amount of AOD penalties; the Court's calculation of the AOD penalties awarded is therefore straightforward.
Importantly, and in contrast with the AOD, the penalties provided by the PACT Act and PHL § 1399-
The Court has thought long and hard about what measure of penalties is appropriate. The statutes at issue all undeniably seek to address the public harms caused by cigarette use and seek to regulate the unlawful transport of cigarettes that contributes to those harms. As the Court explained in the Liability Opinion, while the statutes have similar purposes, they are not entirely duplicative and target somewhat different (even if partially overlapping) conduct.
For example, the PACT Act seeks to prohibit shipments to those sellers that the Government has identified as sellers who have not registered with the Attorney General or are otherwise not in compliance with the PACT Act (
Given the overlapping purposes of the statutes at issue—while also recognizing that they are different and independent statutory schemes—the Court has decided to award plaintiffs 50% of the maximum PACT Act penalties to which they are entitled; 50% of the PHL § 1399-
As explained in the Liability Opinion, plaintiff New York State is entitled to a stipulated penalty of $1,000 for each UPS violation of the AOD because UPS failed—as required by the AOD—to audit shipments where there was "a reasonable basis to believe" that shippers "may be tendering cigarettes for delivery to Individual Consumers." (Liability Opinion at 120-144, 213.) As the Court noted in the Liability Opinion, plaintiffs sought the imposition of AOD penalties on a "per package" basis. (
To determine what Packages are counted with regard to each shipper, the Court instructed the parties to utilize UPS's delivery spreadsheets, which were admitted into evidence. (
In its findings of fact in the Liability Opinion, the Court specified, as to each shipper for which the Court found AOD liability, the date not later than which there was a reasonable basis to believe that the shipper was tendering cigarettes. The Court explained that this is the "start date" for the imposition of penalties. (
In their April 7, 2017, submission plaintiffs complied with the Court's instructions. Specifically, plaintiffs submitted to the Court a tally of Packages for each shipper liable under the AOD and specified the applicable start date plaintiffs used to calculated the tally (and provided page citations to the Liability Opinion from which the start date was taken).
Accordingly, based on the Court's findings and the number of Packages supplied to the Court, the Court hereby finds that plaintiff New York State is entitled to AOD penalties in the amount of $80,468,000. The Liability Opinion explained that penalties imposed under the AOD are not duplicative of other penalties. (
As detailed in the Liability Opinion, plaintiffs New York State and New York City are entitled to compensatory damages for UPS's violations of the PACT Act, which UPS violated by knowingly shipping for entities identified on the NCLs. (Liability Opinion at 159-63; 190-93.) The Court explained that these compensatory damages are measured by plaintiffs' lost tax revenue attributable to the number of packs/cartons of cigarettes delivered by UPS on behalf of those "Liability Shippers" identified on the PACT Act NCLs, using a 50% diversion rate—the Court found that 50% is a reasonable percentage of unstamped cigarette cartons consumers would have purchased. (
The Court provided its definition of a Carton of cigarettes as follows: A carton of cigarettes weighs approximately one pound. (
The Liability Opinion specified the dates on which the applicable Liability Shippers appeared on the PACT Act NCLs as well as the dates on which UPS's PACT Act obligations began for each applicable shipper (
In accordance with the Court's findings and rulings (summarized above), the Court ordered the parties to submit the applicable numbers of Packages and Cartons of cigarettes. (
In their April 7, 2017, submission, plaintiffs complied with the Court's instructions. Specifically, plaintiffs submitted to the Court a tally of Packages and Cartons of cigarettes (based on the percentages specified by the Court) for each shipper for which the Court found PACT Act liability attached. (ECF No. 530 at 6, 9.) Plaintiffs also specified the applicable start date from which they calculated their tally (based on the dates stated by the Court in the Liability Opinion).
Based on the Court's findings and the number of Packages and Cartons supplied to the Court, the Court hereby finds that plaintiff New York State is entitled to PACT Act compensatory damages in the amount of $2,767,600.50 and plaintiff New York City is entitled to PACT Act compensatory damages in the amount of $546,937.50.
However, as discussed below, plaintiffs New York State and New York City are also entitled to compensatory damages under the CCTA. Plaintiffs acknowledge that they "cannot recover compensatory damages for the same shippers under both [the PACT Act and CCTA]." (ECF No. 530 at 3 n.2.) Based on the Court's findings and the number of Cartons submitted to the Court, plaintiffs are entitled to a greater amount of CCTA compensatory damages than PACT Act compensatory damages (the Court discusses CCTA compensatory damages below).
Therefore, in order to avoid double counting, the Court does not award plaintiffs compensatory damages under the PACT Act, because the Court awards plaintiffs compensatory damages under the CCTA, as described below.
Nevertheless, plaintiffs New York State and New York City are entitled to
Based on the Court's findings and the number of Packages supplied to the Court—as PACT Act penalties may be imposed on a per-violation basis, but need not be—the Court finds that plaintiff New York State is entitled to receive a
Having considered the totality of the facts and circumstances in this case and all of the relevant legal principles concerning damages and penalties, as detailed in the Liability Opinion and in this Opinion & Order, the Court awards plaintiffs 50% of the maximum PACT Act penalties to which they are entitled.
As explained in the Liability Opinion, plaintiffs New York State and New York City are entitled to penalties under PHL § 1399-
The Liability Opinion provided the applicable definition of Packages and Cartons, as the Court has explained above in this Opinion & Order. In addition, the Liability Opinion laid out the Court's findings regarding the reasonable approximation of Packages that contained cigarettes for each Liability Shipper. The Liability Opinion explained that the start date for UPS's liability under PHL § 1399-
Accordingly, the Court ordered the parties to submit, using the Court's definition of Packages and Cartons as well as the applicable date ranges, the number of Packages that fall within those parameters. (
In their April 7, 2017, submission, plaintiffs complied with the Court's instructions. Specifically, plaintiffs submitted to the Court a tally of Packages and Cartons of cigarettes (based on the percentages specified by the Court) for each shipper to which the Court found PHL § 1399-
Based on the Court's findings and the number of Packages and Cartons of cigarettes supplied to the Court, the Court finds that plaintiff New York State is entitled to receive a
Having considered the totality of the facts and circumstances in this case and all of the relevant legal principles concerning damages and penalties, as detailed in the Liability Opinion and in this Opinion & Order, the Court awards plaintiffs 50% of the maximum PHL § 1399-
As explained in the Liability Opinion, plaintiffs New York State and New York City are entitled to compensatory damages for UPS's violations of the CCTA because UPS knowingly shipped "contraband cigarettes." (Liability Opinion at 166-72, 190-93.) These compensatory damages are measured by plaintiffs' lost tax revenue attributable to the number of packs/cartons of cigarettes UPS knowingly shipped to the Liability Shippers, using a 50% diversion rate—the Court found that 50% is a reasonable percentage of unstamped cigarette cartons consumers would have purchased. (
The Liability Opinion specified the date ranges during which the Court found UPS knowingly shipping cigarettes on behalf of the Liability Shippers. In addition, as explained above, the Liability Opinion laid out the Court's findings regarding the reasonable approximation of Packages that contained cigarettes for each Liability Shipper. The Court further noted that during the relevant time period, the New York State tax rate was $4.35 per pack of cigarettes ($43.50 per carton) and the New York City tax rate was $1.50 per pack of cigarettes ($15 per carton). (
Accordingly, the Court ordered that the parties submit to the Court the applicable numbers of Packages and Cartons of cigarettes in accordance with the findings and timeframes provided by the Court. (
In their April 7, 2017, submission plaintiffs complied with the Court's instructions. Specifically, plaintiffs submitted to the Court a tally of Packages and Cartons of cigarettes (based on the percentages specified by the Court) for each shipper for which the Court found CCTA liability attached. (ECF No. 530 at 7-8, 11-12.) Plaintiffs also specified the applicable start date from which they calculated their tally (using the dates provided by the Court in the Liability Opinion).
Based on the Court's findings and the number of Cartons submitted to the Court, the Court finds that plaintiff New York State is entitled to receive CCTA compensatory damages in the amount of $8,679,729, and plaintiff New York City is entitled to receive CCTA compensatory damages in the amount of $720,885.
Accordingly, and because the Court does not award plaintiffs PACT Act compensatory damages (as noted above),
As explained in the Liability Opinion, plaintiffs New York State and New York City are also entitled to
The Court further explained that there does not seem to be any particular advantage to assessing a CCTA
Again, in their April 7, 2017, submission, plaintiffs submitted to the Court information that the Court could potentially use in its calculation of any CCTA penalties,
Having considered the totality of the facts and circumstances in this case and all of the relevant legal principles concerning damages and penalties, as detailed in the Liability Opinion and in this Opinion & Order,
The Court has set forth its determination of damages and penalties above. In total, plaintiff New York State is awarded
SO ORDERED.