Class-Action Status Denied in Smokers’ Suit

A U.S. District Court in South Carolina has denied class-action status for a lawsuit against cigarette manufacturers, marking the second such denial in a week. The case, known as Aksamit et al. vs. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. et al, was filed on behalf of South Carolina smokers who were allegedly injured as a result of smoking the defendant companies’ cigarettes. In a decision Friday, U.S. District Judge Margaret Seymour denied class-action status for various reasons, including that questions of law and fact common to the class do not predominate over individual issues. It was not immediately clear which of the original defendants have been dismissed since the case was filed in 1997. The list of defendants then included Philip Morris Cos Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Liggett Group, Loews Corp. and UST, as well as Brown & Williamson and others. On Thursday, a common pleas court in Philadelphia denied class-action status in a case against R.J. Reynolds.