The latest tobacco verdict is in, and it's for the defendant.
A federal judge in Maine has denied class certification to a group of plaintiffs who alleged that Philip Morris promoted light cigarettes as healthier than the standard variety, conduct that the putative class said violated several consumer protection laws.
In his ruling, Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. said that the plaintiffs cast too wide a net. The putative class included every consumer, from several states, who purchased light or low tar cigarettes within a defined time period. That definition, the court said, includes consumers who already knew that light cigarettes were just as unhealthy as others.
"Those class members were not injured by the defendants' misconduct and thus do not have standing," Judge Woodcock wrote. "Furthermore, in view of the proliferation of information decrying the health risks of all cigarettes there is no telling how many potential class members are similarly situated."
Philip Morris triumphant
The case is the latest in a string of losses for tobacco plaintiffs. According to an analysis in Forbes, 11 of 13 other recent cases that could potentially have led to a multi-billion dollar settlement have also been thrown out by judges.
Philip Morris views the decision as a potential precedent for dismissing similar class actions that come down the pike in the future.
"While the judge has yet to rule on the remaining cases in the multidistrict litigation, we believe this decision should serve as a persuasive authority in denying class certification in those and other similar cases as well," Murray Garnick, associate general counsel of Altria Group, Philip Morris's parent company, said in a statement.
Mixed verdicts
The ruling came just weeks after a triumphant Florida plaintiff was awarded $80 million by a Florida jury. Diane Webb obtained the verdict on behalf of her father James Cayce Horner, now deceased, who had been a plaintiff in the massive class action Engle v. R.J. Reynolds. When that class was decertified, Horner brought his own action.
But plaintiff victories in tobacco cases are relatively rare. In September, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia stayeda $270 million verdict for Louisiana plaintiffs, ruling that the plaintiffs, who alleged misleading advertisements by tobacco companies, failed to show that they all relied on those ads.
The Maine plaintiffs' chief complaint -- that light cigarettes are marketed as healthier than the alternative -- is now a moot point, under a recently-enacted federal law. The 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act prohibits tobacco companies from using the worlds "light, "low, or "mild on tobacco products unless the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives them clearance to do so.
And that's probably a good thing, given a recent survey showing that a significant number of smokers still believe that "light cigarettes are safer than their standard counterparts.
