Legal

State

Judge refuses to certify class in Marlboro medical-monitoring suit (CA)
U.S. District Judge William Alsup of California has rejected a class certification that would require Philip Morris USA to establish a medical-monitoring program for long-term consumers of the company’s Marlboro cigarettes. The plaintiffs argued that Philip Morris should be responsible for providing the long-term consumers with low-dose CT chest scans, which can detect lung cancer earlier than x-rays; however, the judge determined there was no reliable way to establish which individuals are long-term consumers. The judge noted that the plaintiffs can proceed with individual claims for strict liability design defect and negligent design and testing. Read more here.

California Supreme Court addresses legal deadlines for tobacco lawsuits (CA)
The California Supreme Court has ruled that smokers can sue the tobacco industry after developing a tobacco-related disease, even if they had a different tobacco-related disease earlier. Former smoker Nikki Pooshs had filed suit against Philip Morris USA Inc. after being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2003, although she had been diagnosed with other tobacco-related diseases as early as 1989. Philip Morris had argued that because state law gives individuals two years to sue after discovering an injury, she should only have been able to file suit between 1989 and 1991. The Court held that the injuries were separate and distinct, and therefore did not need to follow the same legal timeline. This ruling changes how the statute of limitations is applied in these cases, and could open the door for new lawsuits. Click here to read more.

Engle progeny case updates (FL)
Several more cases have been decided this month in the Engle progeny suits, which stem from a class-action lawsuit thrown out by the Florida Supreme Court in 2006. In Andy Allen v. R.J. Reynolds, the family of deceased smoker Patricia Allen was awarded $6 million in compensatory damages and $34 million in punitive damages. The jury found R.J. Reynolds 45% responsible and Philip Morris 15% responsible for her death from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), determining that the companies were negligent, sold a defective product, and concealed and agreed to conceal health information. This is the third largest Engle verdict to date. The Jewett v. R.J. Reynolds case was also decided in favor of the plaintiff, with a jury deciding that Barbara Jewett’s 2006 death from complications of a lung transplant was caused by cigarettes. The defendants had argued that Jewett was not addicted to cigarettes, and that since she knew she had COPD long before her official diagnosis in 1990, the statute of limitations had expired. The jury rejected these arguments, finding that her addiction to cigarettes caused her COPD, which was the cause of her death. The jury assigned 70% fault to Ms. Jewett, 20% to R.J. Reynolds, and 10% to Lorillard, awarding special damages of $692,981 to the estate of Barbara Jewett, and general damages of $400,000 to her husband.

Jury sides with Big Tobacco over Missouri hospitals (MO)
Jurors sided with tobacco companies in a suit filed by Missouri hospitals, rejecting the hospitals’ claims for $455 million in damages. The hospitals were seeking to recover the costs of providing care and treatment to patients with little or no insurance for smoking-related illnesses between 1993 and 2010. The suit, St. Louis v. American Tobacco Co., was originally filed in 1998. State and federal appellate courts have rejected all 17 past cases with similar health-care recovery cost arguments. Read more here.

Philip Morris wins defense verdict in NY smoker suit (NY)
A New York jury has found that Philip Morris was not responsible for the lung cancer death of former smoker Ann Grill. Grill began smoking in junior high school, smoked a pack a day for twenty years, and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2003 at age 41. The plaintiffs argued that Philip Morris had made a dangerous and addictive product that caused her lung cancer, but the jury decided that Philip Morris was not responsible because the cancer had started in Grill’s stomach and metastasized to her lungs. This was the first lawsuit by a smoker against a tobacco company to be brought to trial outside of Florida in five years. Click here to read more.

Indians win delay in collection of cigarette tax (NY)
In early May, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit annulled an injunction that prohibited New York State from collecting taxes on cigarettes sold on tribal land. The injunction was initially issued when several tribes claimed that, because of their sovereign immunity, they should not have to charge taxes as required by a new set of cigarette tax laws that went into effect in September 2010. One day after the injunction was lifted, a state Supreme Court judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the state from collecting cigarette taxes from the Seneca Nation and other tribes involved in the lawsuit. The restraining order, in effect until a June 1 hearing, will allow the tribes to determine their next legal steps, which could include an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Seneca Tribe has also mentioned that it may begin to sell only tobacco products manufactured on reservation land, which they say will be out of the reach of the state. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced his intention to immediately begin enforcing the collection of taxes from wholesalers on cigarettes to be sold by Native American retailers to non-Native Americans. Read more here.

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International

Cigarette vending machine ban to go ahead in Scotland as tobacco industry loses legal challenge (Scotland)
Scotland’s Court of Session has rejected a challenge from Imperial Tobacco against a new law that would prohibit the sale of cigarettes in vending machines in the country. The Scottish Parliament had passed the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services Act 2010 in an effort to decrease the availability of cigarettes to young people, and the Court determined that it was within their power to do so. Imperial Tobacco is considering appealing this case and is also challenging another part of the Act that bans the display of cigarettes in shops. Click here to read more.

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