Jump to full article: Courthouse News, 2009-09-28
Author: NICK DIVITO
Intro: 9th Circuit reinstated an Alaska widow's lawsuit against Altria Group's Philip Morris USA on behalf of her smoker-husband who died of lung cancer because her state product liability claims were not preempted by federal law.
Dolores Hunter sued on behalf of her deceased common-law husband, Benjamin Francis, but Altria and Philip Morris argued that the state claims against them and retailer Alaska Commercial could not go forward because a victory would result in the ban of sales of cigarettes in Alaska. . . .
the circuit found that Altria, failed to show a "clear conflict between Hunter's claim and federal law," and that U.S. laws "do not provide strong evidence of a federal policy against more stringent state regulation."
The three-judge panel in Anchorage sent the lawsuit back to the Alaska state court.
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