Philip Morris Appeals $10.1B Illinois Verdict in State Supreme Court
Philip Morris USA on Wednesday appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court a state judge's ruling in March that the company misled smokers into believing "light" cigarettes were less harmful than regular cigarettes, the AP/Arizona Republic reports (AP/Arizona Republic, 12/11). In the suit, Madison County, Ill., Circuit Court Judge Nicholas Byron ruled that Philip Morris misled consumers about the health risks of light cigarettes and ordered the company to pay $10.1 billion in damages. Illinois law required the company to pay a $12 billion bond to file an appeal; Philip Morris officials said that the bond requirement would force the company to file for bankruptcy and would prevent it from distributing payments to states from the national tobacco settlement. States use those funds for health and nonhealth related programs (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 8/18). Following subsequent court decisions regarding the bond payment, the Illinois Supreme Court in September ruled that Philip Morris must post $6.8 billion rather than $12 billion to appeal the verdict and also said it would hear the appeal of the March decision (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 9/17). In its appeal, Philip Morris asserts that the case should not have been certified as a class-action suit because the smokers' claims are too dissimilar (AP/Long Island Newsday, 12/11). In addition, company officials say the award is "arbitrary and excessive," the AP/Republic reports (AP/Arizona Republic, 12/11). William Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris' vice president and associate general counsel, said, "Judge Byron awarded an enormous amount of money to a group of smokers who claimed no personal injuries, smoked cigarettes that always were labeled with government health warnings and, for the most part, continued to purchase the company's 'lights' cigarettes despite their claims of deception" (AP/Long Island Newsday, 12/11). Joy Howell, a spokesperson for plaintiffs' attorney Stephen Tillery, said the appeal was expected, adding, "There's nothing in this brief that provides any new legal or factual basis for changing any of the trial court's findings" (AP/Arizona Republic, 12/11).
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