Jump to full article: MSNBC, 2000-07-25
Intro: The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday sent Jocelyn Tompkin’s complaint back to U.S. District Judge David Dowd Jr. in Akron, Ohio for reconsideration.
Tompkin said the tobacco companies are liable in David Tompkin’s 1996 death because they breached an implied product warranty that their cigarettes were safe. The cigarette makers denied the allegations.
Dowd in 1998 granted the tobacco companies’ pretrial request to dismiss the lawsuit, which accused them of violating the Ohio Products Liability Act. Dowd ruled that the dangers of cigarette smoking were common knowledge during the time David Tompkin smoked from 1950 to 1965, and that Mrs. Tompkin failed to state a claim she could support at trial.
Appeals judges Nathaniel Jones and Eric Clay reversed Dowd’s decision. They said there is an issue of fact for a jury to consider about the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. The judges also said Ohio law allows claims for implied breach of product warranty.
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