The Supreme Court on Monday, in a 5-4 split decision, handed tobacco companies a stinging defeat.  The industry was hoping to put an end to lawsuits alleging deceptive marketing of “light” cigarettes.  Instead, the Court ruled that smokers may use state consumer protection laws to bring suit against cigarette makers for the way they have promoted “light” and “low tar” brands, which make up 80% of tobacco sales in the United States.  Philip Morris USA argued these lawsuits are barred by the federal cigarette labeling law, which forbids states from regulating any aspect of cigarette advertising that involves smoking and health.  The Supreme Court, however, said such regulation did not shield cigarette manufactures from state laws that prohibit deceptive practices. This decision forces tobacco companies to defend dozens of suits filed by smokers across the country.  People suing the cigarette makers still must prove that the use of ‘light‘ and ‘lowered tar’ actually violated the states’ anti-fraud laws, but those lawsuits may go forward, Stevens said.  Stevens was joined by Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter, as well as Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose vote often decides the outcome cases in which the Justices are at odds.  Chief Justice John Roberts, with Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, dissented, with Thomas stating that the lawsuits should be thrown out because they rely on claims about smokers’ health which are the purview of the federal agencies policing smoking advertising.  This case is an important barometer for another case pending before the Court, Levine v. Wyeth, concerning the amenability of pharmaceutical manufacturers to state lawsuits for failure to warn users of the dangerous side-effects of the drugs they manufacture and distribute.   The Supreme Court today indicated that large manufacturers will not be immune from state lawsuits simply because they are regulated by a federal agency.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at 9:39 pm and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.