Tobacco.org

Oregon Court Overturns $150 Million Altria Damages (Update3) 

An Oregon appeals court overturned $150 million in punitive damages against Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA and sent the case back to a lower court to reconsider the award.

The ruling came in a suit filed by the husband of a woman who died of cancer related to smoking, according to the complaint. The decision today upheld $169,000 in actual damages for the estate of Michelle Schwarz, who died of lung cancer in 1999, and reversed the punitive damages, which were previously reduced to $100 million by the trial judge.

``The environment is improving, with the number of pending individual tobacco suits crashing down,'' said Thomas Russo, who oversees almost $3 billion at Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based Gardner Russo & Gardner, including about 3.7 million Altria shares on Dec. 31. ``It would take a lot to get the trial bar back on their saddle in this area.''

Jump to full article »