A St. Louis judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in a $700 million lawsuit against Philip Morris USA, after jurors failed to reach agreement on whether Missouri smokers were misled into believing that light cigarettes were safer than regular cigarettes.
The ruling by St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael David ended a class-action lawsuit that was originally filed in 2000 and went to trial just last month. Jurors began deliberations Oct. 18 and were into their fifth day before the judge declared the mistrial.
Stephen Swedlow, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said he will take the case to trial again. Swedlow noted that the jury had announced it had voted 8-4 in favor of the plaintiffs, just one favorable vote short of the nine needed to return a civil verdict under Missouri law.
“This jury clearly agreed that Philip Morris had deceived its customers,” Swedlow said in a news release. “We’ll try this case again and just work harder to convince a ninth juror to understand that this was about Philip Morris’ decision to deceive customers to get them to buy a product that was no safer than regular cigarettes.”
Philip Morris, the biggest U.S. cigarette maker, said the case had no merit and should never have gone to trial.
“After 11 years of pretrial proceedings and a month and a half of testimony, today’s mistrial shows that the plaintiffs failed to convince a jury of their claims,” said Murray Garnick, the company’s associate general counsel. “We continue to believe that these claims are baseless and today’s mistrial shows that we have powerful defense in these ‘Lights’ cases.”
Other suits have been filed over the use of phrases such as “light” and “low tar” for cigarette brands. Philip Morris, which is part of Altria Group Inc., noted that the Federal Trade Commission previously permitted those types of descriptions, which it said were based on results from FTC test methods. But in June 2010, the Food and Drug Administration began prohibiting cigarette makers from using the descriptions on packaging, advertising and labels.
In 2003, a judge in nearby Madison County, Ill., sided against Philip Morris in awarding a $10.1 billion verdict over the marketing of “light” cigarettes in a class action suit on behalf of Illinois smokers. The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the verdict in 2005, and the case has been under appeal since.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that about 700 million packs of Marlboro Light cigarettes were sold in Missouri from early 1995 until the end of 2002, the period covered by the Missouri lawsuit.
The mistrial was the second legal victory this year for big tobacco companies in St. Louis. In the other case, hospitals sought to require tobacco companies to pay the costs of treating smokers’ diseases. But after a 2 1/2 month trial, the tobacco companies prevailed.
Oscar Shortlists Unveiled Across 10 Categories
The Selena Gomez ballad "Mi Camino," the Will Ferrell and Harper Steele road trip documentary "Will & Harper" and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's pulsating "Challengers" score are one step closer to an Oscar nomination. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled shortlists in 10 categories Tuesday, including for documentary, international feature, best song and score. Two musicals, "Emilia Pérez" and "Wicked," were well represented in the categories. Netflix's audacious transgender drug-lord drama "Emilia Pérez" was most named, advancing in international feature, original score, two original songs including "Mi Camino" and "El Mal" (performed by Zoe Saldaña), sound and hair and makeup. "Wicked" also moved forward in several categories, like hair and makeup, original score, sound and visual effects. The adaptation of the Broadway musical did not include original songs and therefore wasn't eligible in that category. The song semifinalists include several notable artists, like Pharrell Williams for "Piece by Piece," Lainey Wilson for her "Twisters" song "Out of Oklahoma," Elton John and Brandi Carlile for "Never Too Late" and Robbie Williams for "Forbidden Road" from "Better Man." Diane Warren may also be heading for a 16th nomination for her song from "The Six Triple Eight." Nicholas Britell's "Winter Coat," performed by Saoirse Ronan in "Blitz," was also included, as was Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Tell Me It's You" from "Mufasa: The Lion King," performed by Aaron Pierre and Tiffany Boone. Among the 15 documentaries eligible for nominations are "The Bibi Files,""Daughters," "Eno," "Frida,""The Remarkable Life of Ibelin," "Dahomey," "Union," "Porcelain War" and "No Other Land." There are also 15 international features advancing, including... Read More