Tag: Philip Morris USA

PM to Pay $36 Million in Massachusetts Suit

Court, courtroom, law.
A Massachusetts unanimous state Supreme Judicial Court ruling awarded $37 million to a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Philip Morris USA.
Issued Tuesday, the justices’ opinion found enough evidence to support a prior jury verdict and lower court judge’s rulings against the company in a case that claimed that the company’s cigarettes — and the company’s claims about them — resulted in the plaintiff’s cancer, reports WBUR.
In the high court opinion, written by Justice Scott Kafker, the justices found the company failed to disclose its own research to customers, which showed that filtered cigarettes were even more damaging to human DNA than regular cigarettes.
The opinion noted Philip Morris did not dispute that cigarettes are harmful to health. Instead, the company claimed there was no evidence linking its advertisements to Greene’s personal decision to take up Marlboro Lights as a safer alternative.
May 11, 2023
Tobacco Firms Settle Messaging Dispute

Several tobacco companies have reached an agreement in long-running litigation brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and certain public health organizations regarding the communication of tobacco-related messaging at retail locations.
The agreement will require Altria, Philip Morris USA, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and ITG Brands to supply their contracted stores with court-ordered signs that must be posted for 21 months.
The agreement covers the last remaining dispute from the lawsuit DOJ filed against Altria, Philip Morris USA and R..J Reynolds in the 1990s, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).
“This litigation has always put the retailers in a uniquely bad position,” said Doug Kantor, NACS general counsel. “Retailers were not parties to the lawsuit and should not be burdened with a court-ordered remedy, but this negotiated outcome avoids even worse results that DOJ and public health groups were advocating.”
The agreement provides that each store under contract with one of the manufacturers will have to post at least one sign carrying one of 17 different, pre-approved health messages that will be distributed at random to retailers around the country.
Each store will be required to rotate to a new message halfway through the time period required in the agreement. The manufacturers will be required to hire auditors to check whether the signs are properly posted. A summary of the agreement explaining the requirements on retailers as well as answers to frequently asked questions about it can be found here.
A hearing on the proposed agreement will be held in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 28 and 29. The court will then decide whether to accept the agreement and enter an order to implement it.
The timing of the requirements for signs to be posted will depend on when the court decides whether to accept the agreement.
July 16, 2022
Discounters Contest Minimum Price

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Liggett Group, Vector Tobacco and Xcaliber International, together with a Colorado citizen and cigarette smoker, have filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against the State of Colorado in a United States Federal Court. The motion seeks to enjoin Colorado from enforcing the recently enacted Colorado minimum cigarette price requirement, which would raise retail cigarette prices for Colorado consumers to premium brand levels.
The motion alleges that the requirement was inserted into a cigarette tax increase bill solely to secure support for the bill from Philip Morris, the largest U.S. seller of premium cigarettes. The motion also alleges that the minimum price requirement violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution by favoring Colorado retailers’ in-state economic interests over the interests of out-of-state discount manufacturers.
Further, the complaint alleges that the minimum price requirement was not properly disclosed to Colorado voters who approved the bill on Election Day. “Voters believed that the tax increases would benefit education and other public purposes, when in fact all of the benefit of the minimum price provision will go to retailers, Philip Morris and other premium cigarette manufacturers, and none to the State of Colorado,” the plaintiffs wrote in a statement.
November 23, 2020