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Tobacco Companies Lose Bid to Dismiss Union Trust Fund Suit 

The 58-page opinion by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler in Washington allows the unions to proceed in an area where plaintiffs have had little luck. Most suits filed by labor unions have been dismissed before trial.

Kessler, who also is handling the case the U.S. Justice Department filed in September against the tobacco industry, explicitly rejected the views expressed in decisions on similar cases by four U.S. appeals courts.

``With all due respect to the four circuit courts that have spoken, this court concludes that their rulings underestimate the inherent ability and flexibility of our common law-based legal system to respond to the demands of a case as difficult as this,'' she wrote.

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With all due respect to the four circuit courts that have spoken [on union trust fund suits], this court concludes that their rulings underestimate the inherent ability and flexibility of our common law-based legal system to respond to the demands of a case as difficult as this.
.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler in Washington, DC. Quoted in <i>Tobacco Companies Lose Bid to Dismiss Union Trust Fund Suit</i>

Philip Morris, Others Lose Bid to Dismiss Suit by Trust Funds 

Philip Morris Cos. and other tobacco companies lost a bid to dismiss a lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 100 union health and welfare trust funds in California.

The companies had argued that the funds' claims are barred by the tobacco industry's $206 billion settlement with 46 states.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Prager rejected the argument yesterday. . . Six of the funds, including the Operating Engineers Local 12 Health & Welfare Trust, have sued

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Tobacco Companies Sued By Funds Over Smoking Damages (Update1) 

In the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, the Manhattan Beach, California-based Sheet Metal Workers Trust Fund, and the Baltimore-based Freight Drivers & Helpers, Local Union No. 557 Health and Welfare Fund claim the tobacco companies conspired to hide the risks of smoking and targeted blue collar workers, minorities, and children.

The suit is asking the court to order the industry to disclose research related to smoking and addiction, to stop advertisements aimed at minors, and for unspecified damages. ``The tobacco companies' fraudulent course of misconduct has resulted in staggering loss of life . . . and economic loss,'' the suit claims.

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Federal judge throws out tobacco suit 

U.S. District Judge William Dwyer cited a July 14 ruling from that court in dismissing the case Thursday. It had been scheduled to go to trial Sept. 7.

The 9th Circuit upheld a ruling by a federal judge in Oregon that only individual union members -- not the trust funds that cover their health care -- can sue tobacco companies.

"We're very disappointed, but Judge Dwyer's hands were tied by the 9th Circuit ruling," Withey said Friday.

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B&W Says Federal Court in Seattle Rules in Favor of Tobacco Industry 

Federal District Court in Seattle, Washington has granted tobacco companies a summary judgement in a case that was set to go to trial Sept. 7.

The Northwest Laborers Employers Health & Security Trust Fund and other funds brought several claims against the tobacco manufacturers. In throwing out the case, the court essentially said that the claims were indirect and that the injuries alleged were personal. Thus, the claims failed under the recent Ninth Circuit opinion in Oregon Laborers, and under state law that dedicates deceptive practice and anti-trust claims to property injuries

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Circuit Rejects Union's Claims in Tobacco Suit 

In a decision that could spell doom for dozens of cases pending in California, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday in an Oregon case that union trust funds don't have standing to sue tobacco companies on antitrust and fraud grounds. "The existence of the smokers, who were more direct victims of the alleged wrongful conduct and who can be counted on to vindicate the injury caused by the tobacco companies' alleged wrongful conduct, weighs heavily in favor of barring the health trust fund actions," wrote Judge Thomas Nelson.

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Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal Of Oregon Union Lawsuit Against the Tobacco Industry 

"Courts across the nation have been finding that the plaintiffs' basic legal theories are without merit, regardless of how their claims are stated," said Charles A. Blixt, executive vice president and general counsel for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. "These rulings show that these lawsuits are a waste of judicial time and taxpayer money. These decisions by federal appellate courts demonstrate that courts will not let plaintiffs stretch case law to unrecognizable proportions in pursuit of claims that have no basis in law or fact. The opinion supports our belief that third-party cases of this type are based on contrived legal theories that don't deserve to be tried in court."

More than a dozen cases of this type have been dismissed by courts across the country, including these recent decisions:

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