Business News
Florida court overrules 145-billion-dollar judgement on tobacco (Roundup)
Jul 7, 2006, 0:15 GMT
Washington - Philip Morris USA and other tobacco companies won't have to pay 145 billion dollars to smokers in Florida, the state's top court ruled Thursday.
The Florida Supreme Court upheld a ruling by a lower appeals court that the record 145-billion-dollar award handed down by a jury in Miami six years ago to Florida's 700,000 smokers was 'grossly excessive.'
The payment was to have come from Philip Morris, a unit of Altria; Reynolds American Inc.'s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco; and other US cigarette companies.
The appeals court said the damages were excessive 'because it would bankrupt some of the defendants,' Bloomberg financial news service reported.
The 2000 decision by the Miami court treated all Florida smokers as one class, but the appeals court held the case couldn't be treated as a class-action case because certain legal groundwork had not been done.
The supreme court also upheld the appeal court's finding that Stanley Rosenblatt, the lead attorney for the smokers, had 'irretrievably tainted' the trial by making inflammatory racial appeals to the predominantly African-American jury and arguing that the companies wouldn't go bankrupt.
But the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld another lower court ruling Thursday that could help smokers' claims in the future: that smoking causes specific diseases, including lung cancer and coronary heart disease. This could strengthen the legal basis for individual smokers or their families who want to pursue individual suits in the future, Bloomberg financial news service reported.
The court upheld 6.9-million-dollars in compensatory damages awarded to two smokers who served as representatives of the state- wide class.
The Florida decision comes after the Illinois Supreme Court ruled last year that Philip Morris doesn't have to pay a 10.1-billion- dollar damage award to smokers of its light cigarettes.
The U.S. Department of Justice is awaiting a decision in its racketeering suit against cigarette manufacturers after a nine-month trial ended in June 2005. The government originally sought 280 billion dollars in punitive awards, but dropped it to 14 billion dollars after an appeals court favoured the industry.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
blog comments powered by DisqusLatest Headlines in Business
- 1. US unemployment drops further, but figures disappoint
- 2. Japan stocks down as euro debt outweighs positive US data
- 3. Iraq resumes oil flow after pipeline blast in Turkey
- 4. Spanish bond auction lifts eurozone worries, sinks Japan stocks
- 5. ECB holds rates, rules out early exit from emergency measures
Older Talkback
page: 1
If it's all so bad, and obviously malicious, why doesn't the government go ahead and just outlaw tobacco sales? Hint: they never will because of tax revenue.
If the tobacco companies are guilty, then government is complicit. I find it rather ironic that any level of government could launch anti-tobacco lawsuits, get awarded monetary damages, and then still continue to receive tax windfalls from the sale of the same products just as they have done for decades.
Frisco: your comments are so short-sited. i too believe that big tobacco is comprised of some of the most careless, cruel, and manipulative people in the world. i would shed no tears if they went bankrupt or even if they were assasinated. but lets not forget the end user responsibilities. lets not forget that people smoke ciggerettes all over the world of different brands. lets not forget that smoking tobacco has been around long before phillip morris and the likes. phillip morris simply made a big business out of tobacco (and often did so in a very dispicable way). phillip morris is as american as business gets.
lets not be so quick to judge and view things as black and white or as you said, good and evil. the truth, or as close as one can get, is much more colorful and interesting.
When will the public stop blaming companies for people's own addictions?
What about all the non-smokers that were ever forced to breathe the smoke from people who could not care less about anyone else, when those people in fact smoked by their own free will?
Remember a time when in a closed bus, airplane, classroom, etc, a smoker would light a cigarette and would think 'I don't care you if you don't like it'?
It's the smokers who should be sued by non-smokers.
Smokers are the evil ones.
And if they get sick, they don't get anything more than what they asked for.
Don't come why the excuse 'they did not know'... Poor innocent smokers....................
page: 1
Frisco KidJul 7th, 2006 - 06:26:46
Disgusting and typical pro-corporate judgment by the Florida Supreme Court. The tobacco cartel is composed of the most evil people on the planet, murdering and maiming millions all over the world through their legalized drup pushing. The decision to keep them in business is truly evil. The judicial system in America is crooked to the core.
Report this comment