Legal

State

Secondhand smoke lawsuit reinstated (CA)
A California state appellate court panel has decided to reinstate a lawsuit brought to court by the father of a five-year-old asthmatic girl against their apartment complex. In the 2006 case, the family of Melinda Birke sought damages from the Woodland Hills apartment complex, claiming that management was responsible for the nuisance of secondhand smoke in outdoor common areas. The original judge ruled that the family did not have legal standing needed for the lawsuit to go forward and dismissed the case. The three-justice panel in the Court of Appeal unanimously voted that the judge had erred and that a family in a rented apartment has the standing to bring a private nuisance claim based on the inability to use the rented premises. This is the first ruling in the country to allow an apartment tenant to sue a landlord for failing to restrict smoking in outdoor common areas. The family had also appealed the dismissal of a second cause of action for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act; this dismissal was affirmed by the panel. Click here to read more.

Verdict goes RJR's way in latest Engle progeny trial (FL)
A Florida jury has decided that R.J. Reynolds is not liable for the death of Lenny Budnick, a thirty-year smoker of Camel cigarettes. In the case, Jason Budnick v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Budnick’s son claimed that his father was addicted to cigarettes and had unsuccessfully tried to quit several times before developing lung cancer and emphysema. R.J. Reynolds maintained that Budnick enjoyed smoking and had not tried to quit. The jury deliberated for less than one day before reaching the verdict that addiction to smoking was not the legal cause of Budnick’s disease and death, freeing R.J. Reynolds of liability in the case. This “Engle progeny” case stemmed from a class-action lawsuit thrown out by the Florida Supreme Court in 2006. This is the fourth verdict to go in favor of the tobacco industry in these cases; so far, plaintiffs have won over twenty Engle progeny cases. Click here to read more.

Judge's ruling extends smoking ban to Wichita (KS)
District Judge Jeff Goering has lifted a restraining order that had prevented Kansas’s statewide smokefree law from applying to businesses in Wichita. The plaintiffs, business owners in Wichita, had argued that the city’s smokefree policy was more stringent than the state’s law, and therefore should be the controlling law. Wichita’s smokefree policy only allowed smoking in age-restricted venues and those with separately ventilated smoking rooms. In his ruling, Judge Goering determined that the state’s new law, which prohibits smoking inside restaurants, bars, and workplaces, was actually more stringent, and therefore takes precedence. However, Goering also noted that the exemptions in the state law for casinos and private clubs appear to set a double standard. Another court case is still pending to determine whether an exemption in the state law applies to private clubs granted licenses after January 2009. Click here to read more.

Judge rules continued light cigarette purchasers can remain in Philip Morris multidistrict litigation (ME)
A federal district court judge in Maine has ruled that six plaintiffs accusing Philip Morris of misleading smokers about the health effects of ‘light’ cigarettes will be able to use their claims against the company as part of federal multi district litigation. Philip Morris had argued that the plaintiffs could not prove that the alleged misleading information caused the smokers to continue smoking light cigarettes because they continued smoking them after learning the true health risks. The plaintiffs argued that they could not stop using the products because of their addictive nature, and that Philip Morris should not benefit from the addictiveness of their product. Based on their arguments, Judge John Woodcock denied Philip Morris their requested motion for summary judgment, enabling the plaintiffs to bring their case to trial relying on Philip Morris’ misrepresentations of the safety of light cigarettes. Read more here.

Ruling protects Indian tribes statewide from cigarette tax (NY)
Just days after New York State was given permission to collect taxes on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations to non-Indian customers, U.S. District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn has ruled that the state cannot begin collecting tobacco taxes from the reservations until October 1 at the earliest. The temporary restraining order will put a hold on tax collection until after a decision is reached on a lawsuit filed by the St. Regis Mohawk tribe contending that the state’s tax plans violated tribal sovereignty. The lawsuit is similar to cases previously filed by the Seneca and Cayuga tribes. New York’s Attorney General says that the state’s efforts to collect the $4.35 per pack tax on non-tribal sales are legal and would help raise hundreds of millions of tax dollars for the state. Click here to read more about the restraining order, or click here to read more about the original decision to permit tax collection to begin.

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