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Contact: Richard Daynard e-mail to media[at]tplp.org (use @sign)
July 31, 2003
LA JURY FINDS THAT PHILIP MORRIS LIED ABOUT DANGERS OF SMOKING THAT CAUSED LUNG CANCER BUT FINDS THAT SUCH CONDUCT DOES NOT WARRANT DAMAGES TO TERMINAL CANCER PATIENT
Background and Commentary on the Trial Verdict
In an unusual verdict, a Los Angeles jury, after a week of deliberations that resulted in deadlock on a fraud count, found that Philip Morris' deceitful conduct and toxic products caused Frederic Reller's inoperable lung cancer but that the company was not liable for any damages.
FREDRIC RELLER, vs.
PHILIP MORRIS USA INC., A FOREIGN
CORPORATION,
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF
CALIFORNIA CASE NO. BC 261796 The plaintiff is Fredric Reller, a 64-year-old smoker who was diagnosed with lung cancer in late November of 2000. Mr. Reller, who lives in Marina del Rey, CA, began smoking Pall Malls at age 16. In the 1960s he switched to Marlboro but later switched to PM's Benson & Hedges Menthol, which he smoked from 1972 to 2000, when he quit.
Mr. Reller, who is represented by Michael Piuze, is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages. The jury consists of 12 members and 4 alternates. Five are male and 11 are female.
During his opening statement, Atty. Piuze told the jury that the case would be divided into two parts. The first phase would deal with the plaintiff's claims of fraud, negligence and product liability. The second phase would be for punitive damages.
Piuze argued that "after 46 years of lying and … giving smokers a psychological crutch to continue smoking, the industry admitted finally that it's addictive. Unfortunately, it was too late for Mr. Reller and too late for millions of other Californians."
Philip Morris attorney Beth Wilkinson contended that Mr. Reller became addicted to cigarettes while smoking Pall Mall, which is not a Philip Morris product. American Tobacco Company, manufacturer of Pall Mall, is now part of Brown and Williamson Corporation which was dismissed from the lawsuit in May. Philip Morris is represented by Latham & Watkins and Shook, Hardy & Bacon. Ms. Wilkinson and Allen Gardner of Latham's Washington D.C. office are trial counsel for Philip Morris in this trial.
Opening arguments began on June 11 while closing arguments began on July 22. The trial judge is the Honorable Victoria G. Chaney, who was appointed to the bench in 1990 by Governor Deukmejian. The jury consisted of twelve men and women of whom nine must agree to reach a verdict.
The jury reported that they were deadlocked on some counts on July 30th, but Judge Chaney ordered them to continue to deliberate. They remained deadlocked on a fraud count when the verdict was read on July 31. The trial judge may rule on the deadlocked count. If she finds the defendant liable for fraud, it could conceivably open the door to compensatory and even punitive damages.
See Reller Complaint (pdf) Richard Daynard, Chairman of the Tobacco Products Liability Project and Professor of Law at Northeastern University noted: "Wall Street analysts seemed convinced that the tobacco companies couldn't win on the West Coast and couldn't lose elsewhere. But that is changing as more victims get their day in court. Some trials on the West Coast will end up like this one and some trials like those in Louisiana this week, and Little Rock, AR, St. Petersburg, FL, and Edwardsville, IL earlier this year will punish the tobacco companies for their conduct. On the whole, the plaintiff's chances for winning at trial continue to go up. " Mark Gottlieb, an attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project observed that, "The plaintiff's lawyer, Mike Piuze, had remarkable success with his first two tobacco cases. By continuing to bring these cases and prove over and over again that tobacco companies deliberately and deceitfully addicted their customers to a product that would kill them in order to get rich, people increasingly see these companies for what they really are. No matter how much money Philip Morris throws at public relations, the damage done to the tobacco industry by Piuze and other attorneys that take on the tobacco companies can never be repaired."
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