The tobacco industry on Wednesday attacked a landmark jury verdict ordering cigarette makers to cough up $590.9 million for nicotine patches, telephone hot lines and other programs to help Louisiana smokers kick the habit, saying the trial that lead to the decision had “enough reversible error for 10 cases.”
Tobacco industry attacks $590.9M verdict
Apr. 12, 2006
ALAN SAYRE
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS – The tobacco industry on Wednesday attacked a landmark jury verdict ordering cigarette makers to cough up $590.9 million for nicotine patches, telephone hot lines and other programs to help Louisiana smokers kick the habit, saying the trial that lead to the decision had “enough reversible error for 10 cases.”
A state district court jury found in July 2003 that cigarette-makers had deceived the public with an addictive product and schemed to market cigarettes to children. The trial lasted more than a year.
Following the trial’s second phase, in the spring of 2004, the jury rejected calls from class-action plaintiffs for medical monitoring of present and former smokers but said the industry should provide free quit-smoking programs. Attorneys on both sides said it was the first time a jury had ordered such programs, rather than awarding monetary damages to smokers.
Before a five-judge panel of the state 4th Circuit Court of Appeal, Phillip Wittmann, an attorney speaking on behalf of all the defendants, said Wednesday the trial should have ended – in the industry’s favor – when the jury ruled that cigarette-makers had not manufactured a defective product as spelled out under Louisiana’s products liability law. The defendants are R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard, Philip Morris USA and Brown & Williamson.
Although the jury ruled that smokers were damaged by industry fraud, that’s not a reason for liability under the products law, Wittmann said. He said most of the class of plaintiffs – an estimated 500,000 Louisiana smokers – depended upon the defective products claim to have legal standing.
“It is clearly wrong to provide a remedy for the entire class when much of the class lost its claim,” Wittmann said.
Wittmann also said Civil District Judge Richard Ganucheau erred by not requiring the plaintiffs to prove that cigarettes had caused injury, by not allowing the jury to consider how much the plaintiffs were to blame for their smoking and whether the suit had been filed too late.
“I submit that is enough reversible error for 10 cases,” Wittmann said.
However, plaintiff attorney Russ Herman said the case did not hinge on the products liability law and instead was centered on the jury’s findings of fraud and conspiracy by the industry. He also said comparative fault did not apply to intentional injury.
Plaintiff attorney Stephen Murray said evidence showed that, dating back to the 1950s, the tobacco industry knew cigarettes were harmful and addictive and attempted to dilute an increasing body of medical evidence of the links between smoking and catastrophic illnesses.
“They manipulated their product to their advantage,” Murray said. “The worse thing they did was market these products to children.”
Murray also said the class-action approach was the only way to hold the tobacco industry accountable. “If these issues cannot be resolved as a class action, they will not be resolved at all,” he said.
The judges asked only a few questions during the two hours of arguments and did not indicate when they would rule. If the tobacco industry eventually loses, and interest is applied to the verdict, the total could hit $1 billion, attorneys said.
The mechanics of the quit-smoking program will be determined by a court later if the jury’s verdict stands.
?
