Personal Injury Law

Landmark Cigarette Ruling Upheld

Last Friday the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington essentially upheld a landmark ruling that found cigarette makers deceived the public for decades about the health hazards of smoking.
The Court of Appeals upheld the major elements of a 2006 ruling that found the nation's top tobacco companies guilty of fraud and violating racketeering laws. The ruling said manufacturers must change the way they market cigarettes. It bans labels such as "low tar," "light," "ultra light" or "mild," because such cigarettes have been found to be no safer than others because of how people smoke them.

It also requires the companies to publish "corrective statements" on the adverse health effects and addictiveness of smoking and nicotine. The requirements have been stayed or dealyed while the case has been under appeal.

The case has been litigated for almost 10 years. During this time, tobacco companies have denied committing fraud in the past and said changes in how cigarettes are sold now make it impossible for them to act fraudulently in the future.

The suit was filed first in 1999 during the administration of President Clinton. The next administration, headed by Republican George W. Bush, pursued it after receiving early criticism for openly discussing the case's perceived weaknesses and attempting unsuccessfully to settle it.

During a nine-month bench trial, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler heard accusations that the companies had an agreement not to compete over whose products were the least hazardous to smokers. This was to ensure they did not have to speak publicly about the harm caused by smoking. Tobacco lawyers denied the contention.

The government filed the civil case under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Crime Act of 1970 also known as the RICO act. Our Atlanta attorneys have a broad range of experience with the RICO act, both on the criminal and civil side. They have both prosecuted and defended criminal RICO claims brought by the United States government, and prosecuted and defended both state and federal civil RICO claims.

The defendants in the lawsuit were: Philip Morris USA and its parent, Altria Group; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco; Brown & Williamson Tobacco; British American Tobacco; Lorillard Tobacco; Liggett Group; Counsel for Tobacco Research-U.S.A.; and the now-defunct Tobacco Institute.

Liggett was excluded from the ruling because the judge said the company came forward in the 1990s to admit smoking causes disease and is addictive and cooperated with government investigators.

The appeals court ruled that the Counsel for Tobacco Research-U.S.A. and Tobacco Institute be dismissed from the suit. Both are trade organizations for the cigarette manufacturers but did not manufacture or sell tobacco products.

Full post as published by Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog on May 27, 2009 (boomark / email).