Philip Morris Faces Trial Over ‘Light’ Cigarettes
Philip Morris Cos. and other tobacco makers are accused in a new wave of product-liability lawsuits of lying about the health effects of “light” cigarettes.
Philip Morris goes on trial this week in a state court in Illinois in a class-action lawsuit by smokers who claim the world’s largest tobacco company deceived them about the dangers of Marlboro Lights and Cambridge Lights. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. and British American Tobacco’s Brown & Williamson unit face similar suits elsewhere.
The claims raise the possibility of damages in the billions of dollars for the tobacco makers. In the last three years, juries in California and Florida have returned multibillion-dollar verdicts against Philip Morris in cases involving full-strength cigarettes.
The cigarette companies say they haven’t lied, noting that each pack carries a health warning. That defense proved unsuccessful in a Portland, Ore., case about a year ago. A jury told Philip Morris to pay $150 million -- later reduced by a judge to $100 million -- to the family of a deceased smoker who used the low-tar products.
With the light-cigarette trials on the horizon, Philip Morris said in November that it would put inserts into about 130 million packs of light, medium, mild and ultra-light cigarettes saying they aren’t safer than full-strength brands.
The inserts are a response to a U.S. National Cancer Institute report in November 2001 that said low-tar or light cigarettes didn’t reduce the chances of getting smoking-related diseases, said Brendan McCormick, a company spokesman.
The report indicated smokers had been led by advertising to believe the cigarettes were safer. Public-health advocates have since urged a ban on using words such as “light” and “ultra light” on packaging.
Separately, the tobacco firms are defending themselves in a New Orleans courtroom this week in a class-action lawsuit that seeks to force the companies to pay for Louisiana smokers’ medical checkups. The suit seeks to force tobacco companies to finance a 25-year program of medical monitoring tests and pay to help Louisiana smokers quit.
