Reply #5: Tobacco giant wins damages appeal

[Judi Lynn]

Friday, December 16, 2005. 8:07am (AEDT)

A court has overturned a ruling that Philip Morris knowingly misled smokers by marketing light cigarettes as safer than regular ones. (ABC TV)

Tobacco giant wins damages appeal
By North America correspondent Michael Rowland

Tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris has scored a significant legal victory with a US court reversing a $13 billion damages ruling over the marketing of light cigarettes.

The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned a lower court's ruling that Philip Morris knowingly misled smokers by marketing light cigarettes as safer than regular ones.

The tobacco giant appealed against the judgment, claiming it was not the company's fault if smokers took deeper breaths or smoked more cigarettes to make up for lower nicotine levels.

In accepting the appeal, the Supreme Court ruled that Philip Morris could not be accused of defrauding consumers as the US Government specifically authorised tobacco companies to describe their light cigarettes as low in nicotine.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200512/s1532197.htm