http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/lawsuit/rose.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1207824254573 http://tobacco.org/news/263448.html In a major victory for tobacco companies, a Manhattan appellate court Thursday reversed a 73-year-old lung cancer victim's $3.4 million compensatory damage award against two industry giants and threw out $17.1 million in punitive damages against Philip Morris USA. . . . But two dissenters sharply criticized the tobacco companies, finding that the test of consumer acceptability amounted to "nothing more than a cynical effort by the defendants to maintain the commercial advantages of continuing to sell unreasonably dangerous addictive products to addicts." . . . Rose and her husband argued that the tobacco companies should have sold only "light" cigarettes, and that their failure to cease marketing regular cigarettes constituted a negligent design flaw. . . . Rose and her husband maintained that they had satisfied this burden by showing that it was technically feasible to manufacture light cigarettes. But the majority held that they had failed to present evidence of "consumer acceptability." . . . Justices James M. Catterson and Eugene Nardelli dissented in a 38-page opinion written by Catterson. . . . Finz, citing what he characterized as the "extraordinarily strong dissents," said his clients would appeal the decision and expected the Court of Appeals to reverse the verdict, "consistent with the current state of the law in New York on products liability." Law.com Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1207824254573&rss=newswire http://tobacco.org/news/263245.html a Manhattan appellate court Thursday reversed a 73-year-old lung cancer victim's $3.4 million compensatory damage award against two industry giants and threw out $17.1 million in punitive damages against Philip Morris USA. The Appellate Division, 1st Department, held in a 3-2 opinion that Norma Rose failed to prove that Brown & Williamson Holdings and Philip Morris negligently designed cigarettes by continuing to market a product with higher levels of tar and nicotine than so-called "light cigarettes." The majority, in a decision by Justice David S. Friedman, ruled in Rose v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 9994, that Rose failed to prove that low-tar, low-nicotine cigarettes would "have been acceptable to the consumers that constitute the market for the allegedly defective product," regular cigarettes. But two dissenters sharply criticized the tobacco companies, finding that the test of consumer acceptability amounted to "nothing more than a cynical effort by the defendants to maintain the commercial advantages of continuing to sell unreasonably dangerous addictive products to addicts." . . . Citing Voss v. Black & Decker Mfg. Co., 59 NY2d 102, 108 (1983), Friedman noted that a plaintiff in a negligent design case must prove that "the product, as designed, was not reasonably safe because there was a substantial likelihood of harm and it was feasible to design the product in a safer manner." Rose and her husband maintained that they had satisfied this burden by showing that it was technically feasible to manufacture light cigarettes. But the majority held that they had failed to present evidence of "consumer acceptability." Law.com Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:00:00 GMT http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SMOKING_VERDICT?SITE=CAWOO&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT http://tobacco.org/news/194732.html A state court jury has ordered Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA unit to pay $18.8 million to a woman who said 45 years of smoking cigarettes gave her lung cancer and neurological problems, the woman's lawyer said Tuesday. After a 7 1/2-week trial, the State Supreme Court jury awarded $17.1 million in punitive damages to Norma Rose, 72, a retired cook who started smoking in 1947 at the age of 15, lawyer Stuart L. Finz said. He said she quit in 1993 after years of trying. . . . Finz said he argued at trial that Philip Morris "did studies to determine the most effective dose of nicotine to hook smokers, and then deliberately manipulated nicotine levels for the specific purpose of selling more cigarettes." The lawyer said Philip Morris determined that the best nicotine dose was 0.4 milligrams, and now has that amount or more in 90 percent of its tobacco products. He said this demonstrated the "reprehensibility" of the company's conduct. AP Tue, 29 Mar 2005 05:00:00 GMT http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2005/mar/20050322obit002.asp http://tobacco.org/news/194546.html Musician and newspaper columnist Forrest Rose, a multi-talented mainstay of Columbia's cultural landscape for three decades, died suddenly early Sunday, March 20, 2005, during a band trip in Arizona. He was 48 years old. . . . Rose collapsed early Sunday morning at the home of a fellow musician. He had performed earlier in the evening in Avondale, Ariz., a community just west of Phoenix, with the nationally known bluegrass ensemble Perfect Strangers Columbia Tribune Tue, 22 Mar 2005 05:00:00 GMT http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/11261611.htm http://tobacco.org/news/193587.html Altria Group's Philip MorrisUSA, the nation's largest cigarette maker, was ordered to pay a lung-cancer patient and her husband $18.8 million in what would be the largest payment to an individual smoker. A New York jury awarded punitive damages of $17.1 million on Tuesday to Norma Rose, 72, and her husband Leonard. Those damages are added to an earlier $1.7 million compensatory award in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. If approved on appeal, the payment would be the largest for an individual smoker, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The verdict is the first against Philip Morris in New York in a personal-injury suit linked to smoking, said Edward L. Sweda Jr., an attorney with the Tobacco Products Liability Project in Boston, an anti-smoking group. Miami Herald Wed, 30 Mar 2005 05:00:00 GMT http://www.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20050329-000321-0950&hpadref=1 http://tobacco.org/news/193504.html A New York jury ordered Philip Morris USA to pay $17.1 million in punitive damages to a lung cancer patient, who claims the cigarette maker failed to warn her about the dangers of smoking. The award Monday came one week after the same jury at the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan ordered Altria Group Inc.'s (MO) Philip Morris USA unit and American Tobacco, which is now a unit of Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), to pay $3.42 million in compensatory damages to Norma Rose, a 72-year old woman who began smoking as a teenager, and her husband Leonard. The compensatory award was split equally between the two companies. "Philip Morris USA will appeal this decision and believes the judgment should be overturned based on the facts presented at trial and the novel legal theory asserted in the case," said William Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris USA vice president and associated general counsel, in a written statement. SmartMoney christina.cheddar@dowjones.com (Christina Cheddar Berk Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES) Tue, 29 Mar 2005 05:00:00 GMT http://www.bloomberg.com/ http://tobacco.org/news/193501.html Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker, was ordered to pay a lung-cancer patient and her husband $18.8 million in what would be the largest payment to an individual smoker. A New York jury today awarded punitive damages of $17.1 million to Norma Rose, 72, and her husband Leonard. Those damages are added to an earlier $1.7 million compensatory award in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. If approved on appeal, the payment would be the largest for an individual smoker, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. . . . On March 18, the jury of four men and two women awarded the Roses $3.4 million in compensatory damages, to be paid equally by Philip Morris and American Tobacco Co., a company that no longer exists. Reynolds American Inc. is successor to the company and would pay any verdict if upheld. Bloomberg News Mon, 28 Mar 2005 05:00:00 GMT http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/43420.htm http://tobacco.org/news/193499.html A Manhattan woman who said addiction to cigarettes gave her lung cancer has received $20.5 million award -- most of it from tobacco giant Philip Morris. Norma Rose, 72, who began smoking in 1947 at the age of 15, was awarded more than $17 million in punitive damages by a jury in Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday. She received an earlier award of $3 million compensatory damages against Philip Morris and the American Tobacco Co. Philip Morris would be responsible for $18.8 million of the total. "I was hoping we could crush the tobacco companies for what they did to me," Rose said last night. New York Post Tue, 29 Mar 2005 05:00:00 GMT http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh97534_2005-03-29_02-11-12_n28691521_newsml http://tobacco.org/news/193394.html A New York jury on Monday ordered Philip Morris to pay $17.1 million in punitive damages to a woman who accused the company of failing to warn her about the dangers of smoking, the woman's attorney said on Monday. The award came one week after the same jury ordered Philip Morris and American Tobacco -- now a subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc. (RAI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) -- to pay $3.42 million to Norma Rose in compensatory damages, said her lawyer Stuart Finz. "We just got a verdict this evening for punitive damages in the amount of $17.1 million," Finz said. Reuters Mon, 28 Mar 2005 05:00:00 GMT http://www.brownandwilliamson.com/legal/litBackgrounderView.asp?postID=1017 http://tobacco.org/news/192767.html Under New York law, defendants do not have a duty to warn consumers of risks in their products that are well-known. At trial, defendants will show that Mrs. Rose was well aware of the risks associated with smoking, which are and have been common knowledge. Fully informed of such risks, Mrs. Rose assumed these risks for the approximately 40 years she continued to smoke. Additionally, Mrs. Rose has not offered and cannot offer any evidence that, at any time during her smoking history, there was any feasible, safer alternative cigarette design that she would have tried and that would have prevented her lung cancer. In addition, defendants' medical experts will testify that Mrs. Rose's medical process is not consistent with small cell lung cancer. . . . Further, defendants' medical experts will testify that Mrs. Rose's neurological deficits could have been caused by an atypical carcinoid, her diet, alcohol use, and other non-paraneoplastic factors. . . . Plaintiffs, Norma and Leonard Rose, filed this action on December 18, 1996 in the Supreme Court of New York, County of New York. As originally filed, plaintiffs alleged multiple claims against multiple defendants. As a result of motions to dismiss, summary judgment motions and other pre-trial proceedings, the only claim remaining for trial is negligent defective design. Brown & Williamson Wed, 02 Feb 2005 05:00:00 GMT http://www.altria.com/media/03_06_02_00_activecases.asp http://tobacco.org/news/192568.html Rose Trial * Court: Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York * Type of Case: Individual * Trial Start Date: February 8, 2005 * Overview: On March 18, 2005, the jury returned a verdict against Philip Morris USA and American Tobacco Company, but not against R.J. Reynolds. The jury awarded $3,420,000 in compensatory damages, assigning 50% each to American Tobacco Company and Philip Morris USA. A separate phase to determine entitlement to punitive damages against American Tobacco Company and Philip Morris USA will begin next week. This is a New York City individual smoking and health case brought by Norma Rose, who claims that as a result of her smoking she developed cancer. R.J. Reynolds and American Tobacco Company are also defendants in this case. Altria Group, Inc. Fri, 18 Mar 2005 05:00:00 GMT http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/3dseries/2004/2004_50355.htm http://tobacco.org/news/192567.html Plaintiffs also allege that cigarettes are a defective product and are not reasonably safe when used as intended because they are addictive and carcinogenic. Plaintiffs further allege that defendants knew of the health hazards presented by cigarette smoking, yet concealed the extent of these hazards from the public during the decades Norma Rose smoked. In the second amended verified complaint, plaintiffs assert causes of action against defendants for: failure to warn consumers of the dangers of cigarette smoking prior to 1969; fraud and deceit; negligent misrepresentation; negligent and defective design; strict products liability; breach of express warranty; breach of implied warranty of merchantability; breach of implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose; and loss of consortium on behalf of plaintiff Leonard Rose. New York State Unified Court System Fri, 20 Feb 2004 05:00:00 GMT http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-rup19.6mar19,1,2194730.story http://tobacco.org/news/192496.html A New York jury ordered Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA and Reynolds American Inc. to pay $3.4 million to a woman who said smoking caused her lung cancer. Norma Rose, 72, and her husband, Leonard, sued Philip Morris, the biggest U.S. cigarette maker, and American Tobacco, said Stuart Finz, the couple's lawyer. . . . The jury will consider a possible award of punitive damages. Los Angeles Times Sat, 19 Mar 2005 05:00:00 GMT