WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said yesterday it will review a $79.5 million punitive damages judgment against Marlboro-maker Philip Morris for the third time.

The justices have twice struck down the award to the family of a longtime smoker of Marlboros, made by Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA.

Oregon courts have repeatedly upheld the judgment. The most recent ruling, in January, followed a high court decision last year that said jurors may punish a defendant only for harm done to someone who is suing, not other smokers who could make similar claims.

The justices will consider only whether the Oregon Supreme Court in essence ignored the U.S. high court’s ruling, not whether the amount of the judgment is constitutionally permissible.

The case will be argued in the fall.

Altria associate general counsel Murray Garnick applauded the justices’ decision to review the case again.

“The Court has previously instructed the Oregon appellate courts to properly apply the constitutional standards to the punitive damage award in this case. The Oregon courts have not done so, and so the Supreme Court has agreed to review the case once again,” Mr. Garnick said.

The award was for the family of Jesse Williams, a former Portland janitor who started smoking during a 1950s Army hitch and died in 1997, six months after he was diagnosed with lung cancer. A jury in Portland made the award in 1999.

A Portland lawyer, James Coon, said the Williams family had no comment on yesterday’s action.

The Oregon high court made its first decision in 2002, refusing to hear an appeal from Philip Morris.

Then the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the judgment of nearly $80 million, saying that punitive damages generally should be held to no more than nine times actual economic damages. It declined, however, to make that a firm rule.

In the Williams case, the family was awarded $800,000 in actual damages. The punitive damages are about 97 times greater. A state court previously cut the compensatory award to $521,000.