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• Philip Morris Denied New Trial in $100 Million Oregon Verdict  

Philip Morris Cos., the world's largest tobacco seller, lost a bid for a new trial over a $100 million damage award to an Oregon smoker's family.

Multnomah County Judge Roosevelt Robinson's ruling today clears the way for both sides to appeal portions of the case brought by the family of Michelle Schwarz, who died of lung cancer in 1999. . .

Relatives of Schwarz, who died at 53, plan to appeal the judge's decision in May to cut the damage award to $100 million from $150 million, said attorney Chuck Tauman.

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Judge Reduces $150M Award Vs. Tobacco 

A judge on Thursday reduced a landmark $150 million punitive award against Philip Morris to $100 million, saying the original amount was "grossly excessive."

Judge Roosevelt Robinson's ruling came six weeks after a jury ordered the tobacco company to pay $150 million in punitive damages to the estate of Michelle Schwarz, who died of lung cancer in 1999 at age 53.

Philip Morris said in a statement it "will mount a vigorous appeal" in hopes of overturning the entire award.

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U.S. Light Cigarette Case Under Close Scrutiny 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is carefully examining legal developments in the United States after a major court judgement against a tobacco company over the use of terms such as 'light' and 'mild' on cigarette packaging, ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, said today.

An Oregon jury has ordered tobacco giant Philip Morris pay US$150 million after a smoker of low tar cigarettes, now deceased, had argued that Philip Morris gave a misleading impression that they were safer than normal cigarettes.

"The ACCC is interested in the outcome of that case and will consider any information that might be relevant to the ACCC's own investigation into whether Australian consumers have been misled by the use of the terms here", Professor Fels said.

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Philip Morris Light Cigarette Trial Yields $150M Verdict 

A massive $150 million punitive jury verdict in Portland, Ore., against Philip Morris Cos. Inc. to the estate of a smoker who died of lung cancer may be a harbinger of a new wave of judgments against the tobacco industry.

The recent verdict included $115 million in punitives on the plaintiff's charge that Philip Morris had committed fraud in its marketing of "light" cigarettes. This judgment was the first in the nation where a jury has specifically found a tobacco company made, in the words of the jury verdict form, "false representations that 'low tar' cigarettes delivered less tar and nicotine to the smoker and were therefore safer and healthier than regular cigarettes." . .

Philip Morris' ads included referrals to FTC smoking-machine tests that Merit delivered 8 milligrams of tar, or about half that of regular cigarettes. The plaintiff contended that Philip Morris knew these tests were misleading and that the cigarette "delivers double that amount," or about the same amount as other cigarettes, Tauman said. By using the numbers, he said, the ads gave a "scientific" cachet to the lower-tar delivery claims.

The Portland jury agreed, awarding $168,000 in compensatory damages and $150 million in punitives, including $115 million on the fraud claim. Schwarz v. Philip Morris Inc., No. 0002-01376 (Mulnomah Co., Ore., Cir. Ct.).

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Lawyer takes risk for vision of the right 

It was perhaps the defining moment of Wobbrock's career, but his face never betrayed it.

Certainly, Wobbrock said later, he was pleased that the jury made a statement that Philip Morris had fraudulently marketed low-tar cigarettes as a healthier alternative to regular smoking.

But even sitting in his office with the door closed, Wobbrock still didn't celebrate his stunning success. He didn't pull out a bottle of scotch to toast the moment, the way many lawyers would. . .

In the end, he smoked because he had to, Wobbrock said. "If it (quitting) was a matter of resolve, my father would have done it. Eighty-five percent of the people (who smoke) want to quit. That tells you something."

The more Wobbrock read, the angrier he got.

"I think cigarette companies are evil. I think they're really evil, and I think they're striving for respectability but they don't deserve it. They're drug dealers, and they target children," he said.

Wobbrock said that winning the Schwarz case made him feel that he had settled a personal score as well. "They ought to pay for whatever they've done to Michelle Schwarz, my father and 15 million other people," he said.

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LETTER: Only the lawyers win / Once again jurors gave money to relatives of a person who had a choice  

Michelle Schwarz [who died of lung cancer in 1999, after smoking for about 25 years] knew the risks of smoking. It seems that no one is responsible for their own actions anymore. They will say it's not for the money. Yeah, right.

The real winners in all of this are the lawyers. There will be years of appeals and the relatives probably will not end up with a dime once the lawyers get their hands on their share of the loot.

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EDITORIAL: This isn't tobacco country 

About now, executives at tobacco giant Philip Morris may be crafting an in-house warning label to paste to the Northwest corner of their sales maps: "Pitching cigarettes in Oregon could be hazardous to our economic health." . .

The Portland verdict ought to send two messages to Philip Morris and other cigarette makers. One is that in Oregon, at least, juries are eager to punish tobacco companies for deceptive marketing over the years of "low tar" and "ultralight" cigarettes that actually are just as harmful to health as regular smokes. The tobacco industry faces similar lawsuits in 11 other states.

The second message is that Oregon is no longer fertile ground for growing tobacco or smokers. The state's expanded anti-smoking effort launched in 1996 is taking hold. Thanks to its Quit Line, tobacco prevention campaign and other programs, cigarette smoking in Oregon is down 29 percent, far better than the 13 percent drop nationally. . .

Massive jury awards against the tobacco industry grab the headlines.

But not smoking is the real victory.

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Philip Morris Loss in Oregon Court Is Fifth Straight West Coast Setback  

Philip Morris said it will appeal "very promptly" if the judge doesn't overturn the verdict. Judges need to tell juries to "try the case in front of them and not make social policy," said William S. Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris's associate general counsel.

Mr. Ohlemeyer said the company didn't get a fair trial, pointing to the fact that documents that had been ruled inadmissible as evidence were inadvertently given to the jurors during their deliberations. Other documents, he said, had been improperly marked in a way designed to draw jurors' attention to certain passages.

Mr. Ohlemeyer also said the company would ask the judge to reduce the size of the punitive award, which he said was "clearly excessive" and "obviously unreasonable." Under the law, punitive damages must bear a reasonable relationship to compensatory damages. . .

The most troublesome legal problem for the industry, however, analysts say, is its losing record on the West Coast, especially in California. The largest of the industry's three straight losses in the Golden State came last summer, when a Los Angeles jury awarded more than $3 billion to a former smoker with lung cancer. A judge later reduced the award to $105.5 million. All of the California verdicts are being appealed.

"Clearly, the strategic changes that Philip Morris has made to the defense of these cases has to date amounted to naught," said Martin Feldman, a tobacco analyst at Salomon Smith Barney in New York.

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Philip Morris Must Pay $150 Mln in Smoker's Death (Update4) 

Philip Morris Cos. is liable in an Oregon smoker's cancer death and must pay the victim's relatives more than $150 million, a state-court jury found, extending the tobacco industry's West Coast losing streak.

The lawsuit tested a new legal approach, with claims that the world's biggest tobacco company lied to smokers about the health risks associated with low-tar products. . .

``The tragedy is that people, instead of quitting, try low- tar cigarettes,'' said Lawrence Wobbrock, an attorney for Schwarz. ``Low-tar cigarettes are a fraud. They don't provide a health benefit.'' . .

``We wanted to make a statement,'' said Lowell McVicker, the jury foreman. ``It was a compromise that we all thought we could live with.'' . .

Philip Morris said it would ask Judge Roosevelt Robinson to set aside the verdict, and then appeal. . .

``Even if the jury believed Philip Morris U.S.A. was liable for punitive damages, there must be some reasonable relationship between the compensatory damage and punitive damage amounts,'' said William Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris' vice president and associate general counsel. ``Clearly, that hasn't happened in this case.''

While company lawyers contended she disregarded warnings, Wobbrock said that Schwarz wasn't blameless.

``Michelle Schwarz acknowledged some responsibility,'' Wobbrock said. ``Philip Morris never acknowledged any responsibility.''

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The tragedy is that people, instead of quitting, try low- tar cigarettes. Low-tar cigarettes are a fraud. They don't provide a health benefit.
Schwarz attorney Lawrence Wobbrock. McQuillen, W.

Oregon jury deliberates in Philip Morris trial 

A jury began deliberations on Monday in a $305 million suit charging Philip Morris Cos. Inc. (NYSE:MO) with fraud, negligence and liability in the death of an Oregon woman who died of lung cancer after smoking low-tar cigarettes.

Michelle Schwarz, who began smoking in 1964 and switched to low-tar Merit cigarettes in 1976, died in 1999 at age 53. Her estate sued Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company, in state court.

The closely watched case hinged on Schwarz' decision to switch to low-tar cigarettes because she believed they were less hazardous.

Schwarz ``suffered injury and death as a direct result of her reliance on the defendant's misrepresentation,'' Lawrence Wobbrock, the attorney for Schwarz' estate told the jury during the trial, which entered its seventh week on Monday.

Philip Morris attorneys maintained that Schwarz, who went to nursing school and married a physician, was aware of the risks of smoking and chose to continue.

``The warnings are no different on a package of full-flavored cigarettes than they are on low-tar cigarettes,'' James Dumas, the Philip Morris attorney, said.

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Philip Morris Lawyer Says Deceased Oregon Woman Chose to Smoke 

A deceased Oregon woman knew the health risks of smoking, and chose to smoke anyway, an attorney for Philip Morris Cos. told a jury today, in an effort to keep her family from being awarded damages.

Michelle Schwarz, who died in 1999 at the age of 53, disregarded warnings from family, school, and warning labels that tobacco was addictive and harmful to her health, said James Dumas, an attorney for Philip Morris.

``When people make a decision to smoke, the make a voluntary decision,'' Dumas told a Portland, Oregon, jury during closing arguments. ``When people smoke, they know it's bad for their health. We buy what we want to buy and we leave on the shelf what we don't want to buy. When we make the decision to smoke, it's our decision, not the tobacco companies.''

Schwarz' family claims the tobacco giant lied to smokers about the health risks of its low-tar products and should pay damages. Schwarz believed the world's biggest tobacco seller's advertisements that Merit low-tar cigarettes were a healthy alternative to regular cigarettes, they say.

The jury could begin deliberations as soon as late today.

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When we make the decision to smoke, it's our decision, not the tobacco companies.
James Dumas, an attorney for Philip Morris, in the Schartz trial. McQuillen, W.

• Portland tobacco trial tests low-tar claims  

A tobacco expert testified Monday that smokers who smoke so-called "light," or low-tar cigarettes, inhale as much tar as those smoking regular filtered cigarettes because of the way they smoke them.

The testimony from Dr. Neal Benowitz came during a closely watched personal injury trial that is testing the contention that low-tar cigarettes are as harmful as regular ones. . .

Michele Schwarz, 53, switched from Benson and Hedges, a regular filtered cigarette, to low-tar Merits because she believed the so-called "light" cigarettes would be better for her health, the lawsuit claims.

A verdict in the trial, which began Feb. 4, is expected within two weeks. . .

"It's easy to compensate," he said. Smokers "need to be told how" to smoke light cigarettes to reduce the risk from tar, Benowitz said.

When questioned by the plaintiff's lawyer, Lawrence Wobbrock, Benowitz said Philip Morris ads claiming that low-tar brands taste as if they have 60 percent more tar than their regular counterparts are "half-truths."

On cross examination, Philip Morris attorney John Phillips argued that studies done by the company in the 1970s showed that smokers smoked on average about 3/4 of a cigarette more per day when smoking low-tar brands, but still decreased total tar consumption by 12 percent.

Phillips also cited studies -- including ones reviewed by Benowitz -- that showed smokers using low-tar cigarettes only inhaled about 80 percent of tar levels as they did with high-tar cigarettes.

The authors of those studies, Phillips said, were "convinced that there was not evidence supporting" the theory that smokers compensate for low-tar brands by inhaling more often or more deeply.

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• Low-tar safety brings tobacco suit to Portland 

A tobacco trial under way in a Portland courtroom is the first in the nation to squarely test claims that low-tar or "light" cigarettes are just as bad for you as regular filtered smokes.

The estate of Michelle Schwarz, a Salem woman who died from lung cancer in 1999, is seeking more than $300 million from Philip Morris, claiming that the world's largest tobacco company fraudulently marketed low-tar Merits as having fewer health risks than regular filtered cigarettes.

Philip Morris attorneys deny that the company made any health claims about low-tar cigarettes, which are the choice of nearly 90 percent of the estimated 47 million adult smokers in the United States. They also attack as biased a recent scientific report that concluded that smokers cancel out any possible benefit of low-tar or "light" cigarettes by puffing more frequently and inhaling more deeply. . .

Observers are closely watching the Schwarz case, which is expected to last several more weeks, as an indicator of the national tobacco litigation trend, particularly given the novel "light" cigarette claim that also has been raised in more than a dozen proposed class-action lawsuits nationwide.

"This is just the next step, and if this is successful it will open a vast new basis for lawsuits and trouble for the tobacco industry," said John Banzaff, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health, an anti-smoking group based in Washington, D.C.

Schwarz, a one-time nursing student and mother of two who smoked Merits from 1976 to 1999, died from lung cancer at age 53, according to a suit filed on behalf of her estate in 2000 in Multnomah County Circuit Court. . .

In opening statements, James L. Dumas, one of the company's attorneys, said Philip Morris did not market Merits as healthier than regular filtered cigarettes. Rather, the company advertises them as milder, or feeling less harsh.

Dumas said that Schwarz, who worked for many years in the medical office of her physician husband, was well aware of the dangers of cigarette smoke.

Finally, Dumas pointed out that tobacco companies developed low-tar cigarettes at the urging of doctors and health officials who thought they would provide some health benefits.

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