Illinois Supreme Court Reverses $10B Verdict Against Philip Morris

[tritsofme]

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The Illinois Supreme Court threw out a $10 billion class-action lawsuit against Philip Morris USA on Thursday, ruling that the company that makes top-selling Marlboros and other brands did not defraud customers in its marketing of "light" cigarettes.

The court reversed the verdict and sent the case back to Madison County court with instruction to dismiss the matter.

A divided state Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Trade Commission specifically allowed companies to characterize their cigarettes as "light" and "low tar," so Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris unit did not improperly mislead customers about the health impacts of its cigarettes.

"If the FTC has specifically authorized the use of the terms .... PM USA (Philip Morris) may not be held liable under the Consumer Fraud Act, even if the terms might be deemed false, deceptive or misleading," Justice Rita Garman wrote for the majority.

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http://www.thedenverchannel.com/money/5542537/detail.html?rss=den&psp=money

[mike_c]

1. so the U.S. government gave tobaco companies authorization...

...to deceptively market a product responsible for killing tens or hundreds of thousands and causing billions of dollars in health care costs. Thanks.

[Inland]

7. Just as it authorizes tobacco in the first place.

The only drug and drug delivery system expressly outside FDA jurisidiction.

[Hyernel]

2. The best "justice" money can buy.

Sad.

[xchrom]

3. ding ding ding -- we have a winner.

and i'm a smoker.

[BamaLefty]

4. What's the breakdown of the IL Supreme Court?

I'd think they'd be more Dems/liberals, am I wrong?

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. Democrats have a majority

http://illinoisissues.uis.edu/features/2002oct/sweep.html

[Judi Lynn]

5. Tobacco giant wins damages appeal

Friday, December 16, 2005. 8:07am (AEDT)

A court has overturned a ruling that Philip Morris knowingly misled smokers by marketing light cigarettes as safer than regular ones. (ABC TV)

Tobacco giant wins damages appeal
By North America correspondent Michael Rowland

Tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris has scored a significant legal victory with a US court reversing a $13 billion damages ruling over the marketing of light cigarettes.

The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned a lower court's ruling that Philip Morris knowingly misled smokers by marketing light cigarettes as safer than regular ones.

The tobacco giant appealed against the judgment, claiming it was not the company's fault if smokers took deeper breaths or smoked more cigarettes to make up for lower nicotine levels.

In accepting the appeal, the Supreme Court ruled that Philip Morris could not be accused of defrauding consumers as the US Government specifically authorised tobacco companies to describe their light cigarettes as low in nicotine.
(snip/...)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1532197.htm