Court backs tobacco ruling, It will allow verdict to apply to lawsuits…
Court backs tobacco ruling
It will allow verdict to apply to lawsuits
October 2, 2007
Cigarette-makers lost a U.S. Supreme Court bid to prevent smokers in potentially thousands of Florida lawsuits from taking advantage of jury findings against the industry.
The justices, without comment yesterday, left intact the Florida Supreme Court’s conclusion that the 1999 jury verdict would apply to future lawsuits. The jury found that cigarette-makers withheld information about smoking risks and put unreasonably dangerous products on the market.
Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA and Reynolds American Inc.’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco unit face numerous Florida lawsuits that want to use the verdict as a starting point. Smokers and their family members have until January to file additional suits.
“We’re expecting in the tens of thousands to be filed by the deadline,” said Ed Sweda, a senior attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston.
The cigarette-makers contended in an appeal filed in Washington that the lower-court ruling “promises to serve as a catalyst” for those lawsuits. “Plaintiffs’ lawyers have begun blanketing Florida with solicitations, telling prospective litigants that the scales are now tipped decidedly in their favor,” the appeal argued.
The appeal stems from a case that at one point threatened the tobacco industry with a $145 billion punitive damage award. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that a state appeals court was correct to overturn the award and that the case couldn’t go forward as a class action on behalf of 700,000 people.
At the same time, the state court said that many of the jury findings would apply to individual cases. At the Supreme Court, the cigarette-makers said that those findings were so ““generalized” that their use in future cases would violate the U.S. Constitution’s due-process clause.
The tobacco companies didn’t contest the application of two of the jury’s findings – that cigarettes are addictive and that they cause 23 diseases.
In a statement, Philip Morris associate general counsel William S. Ohlemeyer said that those suing still will have to show “that the use of a particular company’s cigarettes caused their illness and that the company’s conduct prevented them from making an informed choice to smoke.”
Altria rose 24 cents to close at $69.77. Reynolds fell 22 cents to $63.37.
The smokers’ attorneys, Susan and Stanley Rosenblatt, urged the Supreme Court not to grant a hearing, saying that the justices “should not prejudge” how the jury findings might be applied in later lawsuits.
The appeal also contended that the Florida court cleared the way for smoker claims that are barred under a federal cigarette-labeling law.
Philip Morris and Reynolds filed the appeal along with Brown & Williamson Holdings Inc., Loews Corp.’s Lorillard Tobacco Co. and Vector Group Ltd.’s Liggett Group LLC. R.J. Reynolds acquired Brown & Williamson’s U.S. operations in 2004.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the business-backed Product Liability Advisory Council supported the tobacco companies at the high court.
