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Door opens for 'light' cigarette claims  

After the Court's Dec. 15 ruling in Altria Group v. Good, "every plaintiffs' lawyer in any action against the cigarette industry will now include at least one count for fraud because they can be sure that cause of action will not be preempted by federal law," said Richard Samp, chief counsel at the Washington Legal Foundation, who filed an amicus brief in the case on behalf of Altria Group.

Samp worried that the ruling could give plaintiffs who are time-barred from bringing tobacco tort suits a new litigation weapon.

"Any half-right lawyer knows how to make a tort action into a fraud action," Samp said.

But Robert Peck, a constitutional litigator and scholar from the Center for Constitutional Litigation in Washington, sees it differently.

"I don't think [the decision] makes a great deal of difference," said Peck, who filed an amicus brief on behalf of the smokers.

Noting that other similar cases have already been filed across the country - and were simply stayed while the Supreme Court considered Good - Peck said: "I don't think anyone hesitated to bring such an action previously, and I don't think it will open the door to new cases." . . .

The ruling "gives the green light to the victims of the tobacco industry's 'light' cigarette scam to have their case heard before a jury of their peers," said Edward L. Sweda, Jr., senior attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, who attended the oral arguments in the case.

Les Weisbrod, president of the American Association for Justice, said he hoped the ruling signaled that the Court has a desire to protect consumer actions and prevent companies from using preemption as an immunity shield.

"We hope that the Court continues to look at claims of corporate immunity from the perspective of consumer health and safety, and continues to support the rights of consumers to get justice through the courts," Weisbrod said.

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