Tobacco.org

• UPDATE 2-Court orders tobacco makers to help smokers quit  

Two major cigarette makers on Wednesday said they plan to appeal a Louisiana court ruling ordering them to fund a program to help people quit smoking, although the decision reduced the amount of damages they faced.

The 4-1 decision by the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal came nearly three years after a jury ordered tobacco firms to pay $591 million to fund a 10-year program to help the state's smokers kick the habit.

Philip Morris USA, a unit of Altria Group Inc. , and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., a unit of Reynolds American Inc. , said the decision should be reversed. . . .

Known as the Scott case -- for lead plaintiff Gloria Scott -- the nearly 11-year-old lawsuit differed from many other tobacco cases because the plaintiffs did not claim harm from smoking, but instead said the defendants caused their addiction to tobacco, and that cessation programs would help them quit. . . .

The appeals court rejected the tobacco firms' argument that the case did not deserve class-action status.

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