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Article: Philip Morris puffed up low-tar cigarette claims, jury finds.(Schwartz v. Philip Morris, Inc.)
- Article from:
- Trial
- Article date:
- June 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 American Association for Justice, formerly Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA®). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A jury in Portland, Oregon, found for the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Philip Morris that asserted low-tar cigarettes are as dangerous as regular ones.
"This is the first tobacco trial to focus on concealed health information and deceptive marketing practices for cigarettes branded as `light,'" said Mark Gottlieb, attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project, based at Northeastern University in Boston. "While smokers usually think that `light' cigarettes have less nicotine than `full flavor' brands--as they are, in fact, labeled as such--this is not the case at all. The jury's anger at this deception was clear by the size of the [$150 million] punitive ...