Jump to full article: AP, 2008-05-01
Author: WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press Writer
Intro: The same Oregon court that slapped Big Tobacco with a huge punitive damages award has handed the industry a victory by rejecting a class-action lawsuit for medical monitoring costs in a case where harm had yet to occur. . . .
Lowe argued the industry should pay for tests to detect lung tumors at their earliest and most treatable stage.
The court ruled instead that Oregon law has long recognized that "a threat of future physical harm is not sufficient" grounds for a legal claim.
James Coon, who represents Lowe, said the ruling shows the law is trailing behind science.
"Certain toxic products put people at risk for future injury," Coon said, but "medical monitoring is a concept that ancient common law has trouble dealing with, and the court in this case applied old common law concepts without flexing them in any way."
Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who specializes in torts, or damage claims, agreed.
"It doesn't fit in the box of traditional tort law," Tobias said. "Tort law by definition is after the fact. It aims primarily to compensate for past harm -- not to prevent future harm."
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