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IL Court Snuffs Light Cigarette Suit  

Enough, already.

That appeared to be the message of the Illinois Supreme Court, when it issued a two-paragraph supervisory order yesterday directing a Madison County judge to drop efforts to reopen a light cigarettes class action that originally resulted in a $10.1 billion verdict, the largest ever in the state.

The court directed Madison County Circuit Judge Nicholas Byron to vacate his order certifying questions for an interlocutory appeal to an intermediate court, the Madison St. Clair Record reports. . . .

controversy followed the case into the state supreme court after disclosures that a group supporting Philip Morris in an amicus brief contributed more than $1 million to the election campaign of state Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier, who cast a deciding vote in the tobacco company's favor in the original ruling.

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