Light Cigarette Suit Snuffed Out by Illinois High Court
Editorial - 08.27.07
Garnet Dawn - Illinois Smokers Rights
Cigarette manufacturers are capitalists...they are in business for profit. They were running scared from our US health agencies for over 40 years and never said cigarettes were good for smokers. They said smoking made you feel good...and they were right.
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Light Cigarette Suit Snuffed Out by Ill. High Court
August 24, 2007
Jim Suhr, The Associated Press
The Illinois Supreme Court has ordered a lower-court judge to stop asking for permission to reopen a failed lawsuit against Philip Morris USA over the company's light cigarettes, effectively putting an end to the high-profile litigation.
In the 4-2 ruling Wednesday, the high court offered no explanation for the two-paragraph order that Madison County, Ill., Circuit Judge Nicholas Byron stop asking the state's 5th District Appellate Court whether he has authority to reopen the lawsuit.
"The court's action today is entirely predictable because it quickly and quietly closes the book on a case that a majority of this court, I am sure, would rather forget," Justice Charles Freeman wrote in dissent.
In March 2003, Byron issued a $10.1 billion judgment against Philip Morris USA, saying the company misled customers into believing they were buying a less harmful cigarette. Philip Morris is a unit of New York-based Altria Group Inc.
The Illinois Supreme Court overturned Byron's ruling, saying the Federal Trade Commission allowed companies to characterize or label their cigarettes as "light" and "low tar," so Philip Morris could not be held liable under state law even if such terms could be found false or misleading.
The U.S. Supreme Court last November let that ruling stand, and Byron dismissed the case the next month.
But since then, the attorney in that suit, Stephen Tillery of St. Louis, has argued that his original argument is supported by the U.S. solicitor general in a separate case before the nation's high court. Paul Clement -- the Bush administration's top Supreme Court lawyer -- said in the new case that the FTC never authorized or ordered Marlboro Lights to be labeled as "lights" or use the words "lower tar and nicotine."
Tillery's class-action lawsuit, involving 1.1 million people who bought "light" cigarettes in Illinois, claimed Philip Morris knew when it introduced such cigarettes in 1971 that they were no healthier than regular cigarettes. But the company hid that information and the fact that light cigarettes actually had a more toxic form of tar, the lawsuit claimed.
Messages left at Tillery's office were not returned.
William Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris USA's vice president and associate general counsel, issued a one-sentence statement: "Philip Morris USA believes the Illinois Supreme Court reached the right result."
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Illinois high court again voids $10.1 billion ruling in Philip Morris case

Aug. 23, 2007
BY BRIAN BRUEGGEMANN, News-Democrat
 
The Illinois Supreme Court has again snuffed out a $10.1 billion judgment in a Madison County class-action lawsuit against cigarette maker Philip Morris USA.
 
The decision Wednesday by the high court is the latest in a string of setbacks in the case for Belleville attorney Stephen Tillery, who won the judgment in 2003 on behalf of Illinois smokers of Marlboro Lights, only to have it thrown out on appeal.
 
Circuit Judge Nicholas Byron issued the verdict in favor of smokers, saying the company falsely led consumers to believe "light" cigarettes were safer than full-flavored cigarettes.
 
Philip Morris appealed, and in 2005, the Illinois Supreme Court threw out the judgment. The court ruled that the Federal Trade Commission had authorized the use of the term "light" cigarettes.
 
Tillery later appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which last year refused to reconsider the state Supreme Court's dismissal of the verdict.
 
In January, Tillery told Byron the Illinois Supreme Court would likely change its mind on the case based on a brief filed for the FTC in a different case. The brief stated the FTC has never regulated the definition of "light" cigarettes. At Tillery's request, Byron in May issued a ruling that allowed Tillery to pursue another appeal.
 
The state Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that Byron reverse his decision from May, killing the case again.
 
Tillery said he has another option available for reviving the case: filing a motion arguing that new evidence has emerged -- the FTC brief.
 
"I don't know what will happen at this point yet," Tillery said.
 
Philip Morris vice president William S. Ohlemeyer said: "Philip Morris USA believes the Illinois Supreme Court reached the right result."
 
Tillery said other courts have not accepted the argument that the FTC authorized use of the term "light" cigarettes.
 
"The concern that I have personally is with the fact that there are pending individual cases based upon the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act, where people have become sick or have died from smoking light cigarettes," Tillery said. "This matter has to be dealt with at some point."
 
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Charles Freeman wrote a dissent to the ruling Wednesday, saying the court should have learned more about the FTC's role. Freeman said he warned that the court's first ruling would eventually "prove embarrassing."
 
Byron's verdict consisted of $5.3 billion in compensatory damages, $3 billion in punitive damages and $1.77 billion in fees for Tillery's firm and other plaintiff attorneys. Byron certified the case as a class action on behalf of 1.1 million Illinois smokers, each of whom would have gotten about $4,800 if that many people got equal payouts.
 
Ed Murnane, president of the Illinois Civil Justice League, a business-backed group that has often been critical of Madison County litigation, said he's not surprised by the latest ruling.
 
Murnane said he also wouldn't be surprised if Tillery tries to "find another novel way to resurrect this case."
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