Friday, February 12, 1999
The $51.5 million judgment against Philip Morris Companies by a California jury
could well trigger a slew of individual lawsuits by people who have gotten sick or died
from smoking. The $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages
awarded to a 53-year-old smoker who has inoperable lung cancer may still be overturned on
appeal, as have verdicts in
the past that have favored smokers. But many potential plaintiffs, and those who have
already filed lawsuits elsewhere in the country, will be encouraged by this case and other
recent developments.
President Clinton's decision to sue the tobacco industry for billions of dollars spent
treating tobacco-related illnesses under Medicare and other Federal medical programs will
compound the industry's problems.
New evidence that has been unearthed in state lawsuits shows that the industry tried to
conceal the health hazards of smoking and the addictive nature of nicotine. Juries that
are faced with such information may be less apt than earlier juries to blame smokers for
assuming the risks of smoking,
and more eager to punish cigarette makers for fraud and deception. Even if big verdicts
are reduced or overturned, simply defending hundreds of cases could be financially
debilitating for the manufacturers.
The prospect of fighting endless private and Federal lawsuits could cause the industry to
seek a deal with Congress. Such a deal could settle the potentially enormous Federal
claims, but it must not give the industry immunity from other lawsuits, which remain a
useful hammer to compel
responsible behavior.
The industry has already agreed to pay 46 states $206 billion over the next 25 years to
recover their Medicaid costs.
Last year's tobacco bill would have granted the Food and Drug Administration authority to
regulate tobacco and nicotine, greatly restricted marketing practices that attract
teen-age smokers and required the industry to pay penalties if youth smoking rates do not
go down in the next decade. Those elements ought to be part of any new legislative
proposal. |