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U.S. Supreme Court Won't Question West Virginia Tobacco Suits 

The tobacco industry lost a U.S. Supreme Court bid aimed at limiting damage awards in more than 700 West Virginia lawsuits filed by smokers who say cigarettes gave them cancer and other diseases.

The justices, without comment, today left intact a trial plan that Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA unit and other cigarette makers said will lead to unconstitutional awards of punitive damages. The approach calls for a jury to consider common issues, including the availability of punitive damages, before separate trials are held on individual cases.

``Defense counsel will be wholly unable to defend against plaintiffs' amorphous claim for punitive damages,'' the cigarette makers argued in their unsuccessful appeal

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