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Albert Diaz
Albert Diaz, 48
HOMETOWN: New York City, now lives in Charlotte.
CURRENT JOB: Special Superior Court judge for complex business cases, one of three in North Carolina.
EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree, University of Pennsylvania, 1983; New York University School of Law, 1988; Master's in Business Administration, Boston University, 1993.
EXPERIENCE: U.S. Marine Corps Legal Services Support Section and U.S. Navy Office of the Judge Advocate General. Left active duty in the Marine Corps in 1995 and worked as an associate at Hunton & Williams law firm. Appointed to the N.C. Superior Court in 2001. Served as a reserve military judge in the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary until he retired from the military in 2006 at the rank of Lt. Colonel. . . .
He left the service in 1995 for private practice. He made a name for himself at the law firm of Hunton & Williams representing Philip Morris during tobacco lawsuits in the late 1990s.
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What many e-cigarette users have feared from day one could be in the works: Philip Morris, the biggest maker of tobacco cigarettes in the United States, has been discovered to be in negotiations with Ruyan Group, which manufactured the original e-cigarette starting in 2005. A short news article on Quamnet.com states the seriousness of the matter:
"Ruyan Group said that an agreement between the Company and Philip Morris International Management S.A. could not be reached on matters relating to the co-operation between them on its "electronic cigarettes" by the end of the first and exclusive phase of negotiations."
A multimillion-dollar award from Philip Morris to the estate of a Salem woman will hinge on a narrow legal point argued Monday in the Oregon Supreme Court.
At stake is a 2002 jury award of $150 million in punitive damages against the cigarette maker, later reduced by the trial judge to $100 million, and then reversed in 2006 by the Oregon Court of Appeals.
On a 5-4 vote, the appeals court upheld a verdict of fraud and negligence against Philip Morris, and an award of $169,000 in compensatory damages to the family of Michelle Schwarz, who died of lung cancer in 1999 at age 53.
Schwarz's family argued in Multnomah County Circuit Court that Philip Morris had fraudulently marketed its low-tar Merit brand, which Schwarz switched to in 1976, as safer than regular cigarettes.
But the appeals court ruled the jury should not have considered the harm to individuals outside Oregon in deciding the amount of punitive damages.
The appeals court ordered new proceedings in circuit court to determine only those damages, but the case was appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court.
A lawyer representing the Schwarz family, Maureen Leonard of Portland, said Monday that "more reprehensible conduct (by Philip Morris) justifies higher punitive damages."
Cigarette makers are still struggling, with volumes for the sector declining by about 12% on average in the third quarter.
Still, despite disappointing earnings results over the past two weeks, some companies have nonetheless raised their outlooks.
While TheStreet users are doubtful good news for the sector is imminent, they chose Philip Morris International(PM Quote) as having the most potential for lighting up a sales gain first. It nabbed 44.5% of the vote.
Philip Morris International said that selling cigarettes solely overseas has helped bolster its demand in the third-quarter, with volume slipping just 3%.
In the past three months, the major tobacco companies have altered their promotional strategies, pulling back from umbrella programs and rechanneling efforts to specific brand promotions.
Based on an exclusive survey conducted by CSP Daily News and UBS Tobacco Analyst Nik Modi, nearly 80% of c-store chains said manufacturers have overhauled their total promotions, while only one of five said marketing promotions essentially have remained steady.
Among key comments from retailer respondents to the survey:
"From Altria I have notice more regionalized promotion deals. From R.J. Reynolds, they have cut back on their monthly discounts. Lorillard has given extra dollars off to the state of Wisconsin," responded one retailer.
Cigarettes' big three—Altria, R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard—are facing aggressive challenges from down trading and segment shifting in the convenience-store channel.
The nation's top three brands—Marlboro, Camel and Newport—are battling to hold onto market position in the convenience channel, some six months since Congress approved a record increase in the federal excise tax (FET) to finance expansion of the national children's insurance program, SCHIP.
Based on an exclusive survey conducted by CSP Daily News and UBS Tobacco Analyst Nik Modi, Lorillard appears to be the safest of the three.
Responding to the survey question asking, "Are you seeing substantial trade down from the big three premium brands?" half of the survey respondents said yes.
Asked which of the three premium brands are seeing the most negative pressure, about 40% named Marlboro specifically, and another 40% cited Camel or other Reynolds' brands such as Winston and Salem,
As we explained in August, Betsy McCaughey is a liar who lies. Incessantly. The magazine that ennabled her lying originally is now, finally calling her out on it.
McCaughey first began lying in 1994, because she was bored. While working at a conservative think tank and conferring on the regular with the tobacco industry, McCaughey wrote a lengthy and incredibly misleading story about Bill Clinton's health care reform bill that Andrew Sullivan's New Republic happily printed, despite the fact that it was just full of lies.
Michelle Cottle just wrote a piece for Franklin Foer's newer, less annoying New Republic all about McCaughey, and while it doesn't go into the gritty details of how incredibly irresponsible Sullivan was as an editor back in the '90s . . . . it is satisfyingly mean to McCaughey. . . .
Of course her political "career" ended in disaster because she's impossible to work with or for, and she rightfully faded back into obscurity at another conservative think tank. Until, weirdly, she came back with columns and op-eds and radio appearances and TV interviews in which she shamelessly lied about Barack Obama's health care plans, just this year! It is weird how that happens, right? How no one is ever so wrong that they're not allowed back on TV to be wrong some more, as long as they're useful to people with lots of money at stake?
The nation's two top cigarette-makers are boosting per-pack prices by 6 to 8 cents a pack.
Though the companies won't say why, analysts believe it is to cover new user fees charged by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to pay for the costs of its new assignment to regulate tobacco.
The increase on what Altria's Philip Morris USA and Reynolds American's RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. charge wholesalers seems unlikely to have a big effect on smoking, as this spring's 61.66 cent-a-pack hike in federal excise taxes did.
Last week, Altria Group Inc. chairman and chief executive Michael E. Szymanczyk told analysts the effect of that tax hike accounted for about two-thirds of the 16 percent drop in the number of cigarettes it sold in the third quarter. The rest came from wholesalers' inventory reductions.
As global excise taxes on tobacco products continue to rise, the cigarette producers have their work cut out for them in protecting profits in spite of declining volume. Smaller producers such as Vector Group (NYSE: VGR) could be particularly at risk as consumers decide how much they're willing to pay for a cigarette break.
Domestically, Altria hasn't fared much better, with declining sales and volume owing in part to rising excise taxes, while Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI) also reported an 11% volume drop. On the other hand, Lorillard (NYSE: LO) served up a better-than-average 6.1% volume decrease even as it showed a 2.6% increase in operating income. British American Tobacco holds a 42% stake in Reynolds American.
While the tobacco market isn't growing in the U.S. now, consumers here aren't completely scared off by increased excise taxes. Similarly, global tax increases are just beginning to unfold. And while those taxes are not likely to kill the industry, global consumers are increasingly turning to gray- or black-market smokes as a result of increased excise taxes, leaving growth prospects for premium products like Marlboro in some jeopardy.
Philip Morris USA has raised prices on its top selling Marlboro and other brands, a company spokesman said on Monday.
The unit of Altria Group Inc is raising the price it charges wholesalers for Marlboro, Basic and L&M cigarettes by 6 cents a pack and the rest of its brands by 8 cents, Altria spokesman William Phelps said.
"As marketing restrictions become stronger the pack becomes the best marketing tool," Hammond says. "When the words come off the pack, the industry relies on colors to a greater extent then they used to."
For example, Pall Mall recently removed descriptors like "full flavor" and "light," relying entirely on the color of the pack and the names of colors to identify each flavor.
"Of course, brands have always used colors," Hammond says. "The so called strengths of brands are aligned with the strengths of colors, and many smokers use colors as an indicator of risk. For example, red is perceived to be stronger than blue."
In other words, as the flavors get "lighter," so the do the colors. . . .
"Orange is a very interesting choice," Bansal-Travers says. "No other brand I can think of uses orange as a cigarette pack color, but orange is certainly the lightest that PM uses, creating a spectrum of color and trying to equate that with the spectrum of risk."
Primary design changes: Flavor descriptors, such as "Filter" and "Light," have been dropped, replaced with the names of colors.
Secondary design changes: The phrase "Famous American Cigarettes" has been moved to the bottom. While the logo and Latin phrases "Per aspera ad astra" ("Through hardships to the stars") and "In hoc signo vinces" ("By this sign you shall conquer") remain, the phrases "KING SIZE BOX" and "Wherever particular people congregate" have been removed from the front of the boxes.
For its Salem brand, manufacturer RJ Reynolds has changed the coloring of the packs and the descriptor terms.
The ICD-9 Project, also known as the "ICD-9 CM Issue," was an internal Philip Morris project to impede the creation of a medical billing code that would indicate illnesses that are attributable to secondhand tobacco smoke exposure. . . .
* The Proposal to Include Secondary Tobacco Smoke as an External Causative Agent, by Thorne Auchter of Philip Morris contractor Multinational Business Services, March 8, 1994, Bates No. 2046073521/3523] Memo to Mayada Logue of Philip Morris describing the ICD-9 situation and steps MBS had take to hinder creation of the code. . . .
Abstract: A new medical diagnostic code for secondhand smoke was created in 1994, but as of 2004 remained an invalid entry on a common medical form. The process for creating and utilizing medical codes is open to influence by lobbyists with undisclosed private industry clients. Tobacco industry documents reveal that Philip Morris budgeted over $2 million for an “ICD-9 Project” in the mid-1990s. Tactics to prevent adoption of the new code included third-party lobbying, Paperwork Reduction Act challenges, and backing an alternative coding system. A secondhand smoke code should be allowed on the Medicare form, and physicians should be made aware of its utilization within the new ICD-10 coding system.
A new medical diagnostic code for secondhand smoke exposure became available in 1994, but as of 2004 it remained an invalid entry on a common medical form. Soon after the code appeared, Philip Morris hired a Washington consultant to influence the governmental process for creating and using medical codes. Tobacco industry documents reveal that Philip Morris budgeted more than $2 million for this "ICD-9 Project." Tactics to prevent adoption of the new code included third-party lobbying, Paperwork Reduction Act challenges, and backing an alternative coding arrangement. Philip Morris's reaction reveals the importance of policy decisions related to data collection and paperwork.
Recently, the Bush administration has been subject to charges of "abuse of science."1 Science is vulnerable to pressure from politicians and from private industry.2 For example, decisions about data collection policy are often contested in the political arena by various interests.3 According to a Los Angeles Times story in 1995, one controversial case has been the tobacco industry's response to the collection of data on secondhand smoke.4 In December 1993 the U.S. government adopted a medical code for secondhand smoke as an external cause of illness or injury, in response to requests from coders and also in light of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) 1992 risk assessment of secondhand smoke.5 The tobacco industry responded swiftly.
To better understand the tobacco industry's involvement with the code, we conducted a search of once-private internal tobacco industry documents. . . .
The CMS form 1500 expires 31 march 2006 and will need OMB reapproval; this presents an opportunity to readdress the issue by allowing all E-codes, including secondhand smoke, back on the form.62 Successful lobbying by MBS has had a wide impact for different industries in which chemical exposures or occupational hazards are not documented. The agency will presumably solicit public comment on any changes to the form. The public health sector should be prepared to respond and to be attentive to any challenge to the form from private industry. Meanwhile, the ICD-10-CM, when it comes into use, contains some major changes in medical coding.63 The secondhand smoke exposure code will be found under Z58.83.64
The tobacco industry has thus far undermined the collection of data on secondhand smoke's relationship to illness. These findings exemplify the use of politics to influence science. The medical and public health communities need to be made aware of these different codes and the potential for tobacco industry interests to undermine their use.
Falling Marlboro sales and the continued strength of the US dollar have resulted in a 14 per cent decline in third-quarter earnings at Philip Morris International.
The group, which was spun off from Altria last year and generates all of its sales outside the the US, said net earnings for the three months to end of September was $1.8bn, or 93 cents a share, down from $2.1bn, or $1.01, the year before.
The weak economy and ever increasing excise taxes in many European markets have continued to put pressure on sales of its flagship premium Marlboro brand, which fell 4.3 per cent to 76.9bn units during the quarter.
The is the third consecutive quarterly decline suffered by Marlboro and underscores how cash-strapped smokers are turning their back on higher priced cigarettes as the recession bites.
Cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc., which sells Marlboros and other U.S. brands abroad, said Thursday its third-quarter profit fell nearly 14 percent as the stronger dollar shrunk profit earned in other currencies.
The company said it sold fewer cigarettes because its prices rose and the global economy remained weak.
When the dollar is strong, companies that sell goods internationally and must convert revenue from foreign currencies usually take a hit in the dollar value of that revenue unless they raise prices abroad.
That effect is particularly strong for Philip Morris International, because all its business is overseas, but the overseas cigarette market isn't shrinking as quickly as the U.S. market.