Our
view
Big
tobacco’s appeal inane
Three-hundred thousand to 700,000 sick Florida
smokers still have not received any of the
$145 billion in punitive damages that was
awarded to them in July 2000.
Judging
by the actions of the cigarette firms, the
Florida smokers will not be receiving any
of that money anytime soon, or not at all
if the cigarette manufacturers achieve their
goal.
Four
of the United States’ five largest cigarette
firms Wednesday filed the final documents
in their appeal of the $145 billion award.
The fifth largest manufacturer, Liggett
Group, is expected to file its appeal within
the week.
The
five tobacco companies’ lawyers will soon
begin their arguments to nullify the record
award and more importantly, remove class-action
status from the lawsuit, eliminating the
possibility of a retrial.
The
firms are basing their appeal on court decisions
that smokers’ claims are no longer suitable
for class-action treatment because the claims
are so varied with their own individual
characteristics.
Unfortunately,
because of the court decisions regarding
class-action lawsuits, the $145 billion
award is expected to be overturned and the
tobacco industry will once again get away
with murder.
The
most disturbing part of this case is that
those 300,000 to 700,000 people actually
believed that they won their case and now,
not only are they sick and dying, but their
perceived victory will probably be ripped
right out from underneath them because of
some recent tobacco industry-engineered
technicality.
The
right to appeal is necessary and does serve
a purpose within the court system. However,
in this situation that right is being exploited.
The
tobacco companies originally lost their
case because the jury determined that their
product was unreasonably dangerous, deadly,
and that the companies made statements with
the intention of misleading smokers.
Those
truths still stand. If the award is to be
overturned it should be done so because
those things have been found inaccurate.
They have not.
The
court overseeing the appeal should recognize
this last ditch effort by the tobacco companies
as being based on a questionable technicality.
Even
if each claim has its unique attributes,
they all have at least one similarity —
the quality of life was damaged and the
smokers were misled. The companies lost
based on those facts, and they should have
to pay based on those facts.
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