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Philip Morris Light Cigarette Trial Yields $150M Verdict 

A massive $150 million punitive jury verdict in Portland, Ore., against Philip Morris Cos. Inc. to the estate of a smoker who died of lung cancer may be a harbinger of a new wave of judgments against the tobacco industry.

The recent verdict included $115 million in punitives on the plaintiff's charge that Philip Morris had committed fraud in its marketing of "light" cigarettes. This judgment was the first in the nation where a jury has specifically found a tobacco company made, in the words of the jury verdict form, "false representations that 'low tar' cigarettes delivered less tar and nicotine to the smoker and were therefore safer and healthier than regular cigarettes." . .

Philip Morris' ads included referrals to FTC smoking-machine tests that Merit delivered 8 milligrams of tar, or about half that of regular cigarettes. The plaintiff contended that Philip Morris knew these tests were misleading and that the cigarette "delivers double that amount," or about the same amount as other cigarettes, Tauman said. By using the numbers, he said, the ads gave a "scientific" cachet to the lower-tar delivery claims.

The Portland jury agreed, awarding $168,000 in compensatory damages and $150 million in punitives, including $115 million on the fraud claim. Schwarz v. Philip Morris Inc., No. 0002-01376 (Mulnomah Co., Ore., Cir. Ct.).

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