Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Ashland Specialty Co., Inc. v. Dale W. Steager, West Virginia State Tax Commissioner
Paid petition · Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, No. 17-0437 · judgment May 1, 2018
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
A State punished a small business’s inadvertent civil noncompliance by automatically applying a civil monetary penalty at the maximum percentage rate – 500% – without exercising discretion or considering any mitigating circumstances. Was the penalty grossly disproportionate to the offense and unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause and United States v. Bajakajian? In light of the myriad criteria currently employed by state and federal courts to evaluate gross disproportionality, should the Court resolve the multiple splits and affirmatively adopt factors, like those in Cooper Industries v. Leatherman, to decide whether a civil monetary penalty is grossly disproportionate to the underlying offense?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Mark Allen Loyd
Dentons Bingham Greenebaum LLP
For respondent
Lindsay Sara See
Office of the West Virginia Attorney General
Proceedings
- Jun 17 2019Petition DENIED.
- May 28 2019DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/13/2019.
- May 28 2019Proof of Service filed with respect to reply brief of petitioner Ashland Specialty Co., Inc.
- May 24 2019Reply of petitioner Ashland Specialty Co. Inc. filed.
- May 15 2019Brief of respondent Dale Steager, State Tax Commissioner of West Virginia in opposition filed.
- Mar 25 2019Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including May 15, 2019.
- Mar 21 2019Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 15, 2019 to May 15, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
- Mar 18 2019Certificate of service with respect to brief amicus curiae of The Bluegrass Institution filed.
- Mar 15 2019Response Requested. (Due April 15, 2019)
- Mar 14 2019Supplemental brief of petitioner Ashland Specialty Co. Inc. filed.
- Mar 13 2019Brief amicus curiae of The Bluegrass Institution filed.
- Mar 06 2019DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/22/2019.
- Feb 25 2019Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Ashland Specialty Co. Inc.
- Feb 21 2019Waiver of right of respondent Dale Steager to respond filed.
- Feb 06 2019Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 13, 2019)
- Dec 19 2018Application (18A645) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until February 6, 2019.
- Dec 14 2018Application (18A645) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from January 7, 2019 to February 6, 2019, submitted to The Chief Justice.