Jump to full article: Associated Press (AP), 2007-05-21
Intro: A judge whose $10.1 billion judgment against Philip Morris USA in a lawsuit over light cigarettes was thrown out on appeal is asking a court whether he can revive the case.
Madison County Circuit Judge Nicholas Byron this month asked the Mount Vernon-based 5th District Appellate Court of Illinois to rule whether he has authority to reopen the lawsuit, citing possible new evidence stemming from a separate tobacco case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. . . .
But the attorney in that suit, Stephen Tillery of St. Louis, now says his original argument is supported by the U.S. solicitor general in a separate case before the nation's high court. Paul Clement -- the Bush administration's top Supreme Court lawyer -- said in the new case, Watson v. Philip Morris, that the FTC never authorized or ordered Marlboro Lights to be labeled as "lights" or use the words "lower tar and nicotine."
"There is no question the Supreme Court of Illinois got it wrong when it said the words were authorized by the FTC," Tillery said Monday. "The question now is what the courts can do about it."
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