Illinois Judge Wants To Light Up Dimissed 'Light' Cigarette Case
"EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) -- A judge whose $10.1 billion judgment against Philip Morris USA in a lawsuit over light cigarettes was thrown out on appeal is asking a court whether he can revive the case.
Madison County Circuit Judge Nicholas Byron asked the Mount Vernon-based 5th District Appellate Court of Illinois this month to rule whether he has authority to reopen the lawsuit. Byron cited potentially new evidence stemming from a separate tobacco case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Byron ruled in favor of smokers in March 2003, saying that Philip Morris -- now the nation's biggest cigarette maker -- had misled customers into believing they were buying a less harmful cigarette....
But the attorney in that suit, Stephen Tillery of St. Louis, now says his original argument is supported by the U.S. solicitor general in a separate case before the nation's high court. Paul Clement -- the Bush administration's top Supreme Court lawyer -- said in the new case that the FTC had never authorized or ordered Marlboro Lights to be labeled as "lights" or use the words "lower tar and nicotine."
Read the full article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Madison County Circuit Judge Nicholas Byron asked the Mount Vernon-based 5th District Appellate Court of Illinois this month to rule whether he has authority to reopen the lawsuit. Byron cited potentially new evidence stemming from a separate tobacco case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Byron ruled in favor of smokers in March 2003, saying that Philip Morris -- now the nation's biggest cigarette maker -- had misled customers into believing they were buying a less harmful cigarette....
But the attorney in that suit, Stephen Tillery of St. Louis, now says his original argument is supported by the U.S. solicitor general in a separate case before the nation's high court. Paul Clement -- the Bush administration's top Supreme Court lawyer -- said in the new case that the FTC had never authorized or ordered Marlboro Lights to be labeled as "lights" or use the words "lower tar and nicotine."
Read the full article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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