Jump to full article: Convenience Store News, 2001-05-21
Intro: A federal appeals court threw out claims against Philip Morris Cos. Inc. and other tobacco companies that they intentionally marketed less healthy menthol cigarettes to African-Americans.
The decision by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's ruling that a group of black smokers didn't show there was a disparity between the products sold to African-American smokers and those sold to white smokers, according to the Associated Press.
The plaintiffs claimed civil rights violations because the advertisements for less healthy menthols were targeted toward black smokers. The suit had sought class-action status to represent all living black Americans who have purchased or consumed menthol cigarettes since 1954.
The lower court "correctly held that black smokers' claims of racially targeted advertising and marketing of menthol products were inadequate to state a cause of action," U.S. Circuit Judge Jane Roth wrote for the Philadelphia-based appeals court.
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