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Class Action Against Philip Morris U.S.A., Other Companies, Dismissed on Appeal by New York Appellate Court

NEW YORK, July 16 /PRNewswire/-- A New York appeals court today dealt a severe blow to tobacco litigation plaintiffs by rejecting class certification in the closely watched New York state class-action cases against the major cigarette manufacturers. In addition, the appeals court took the extraordinary step of dismissing the underlying legal claims, thus throwing out the cases in their entirety.

In unusually strong language, the court said the proposed classes of New York smokers would be "unmanageable because of the individual issues" that would need to be resolved in the cases.

The cigarette companies "have a due process right to cross-examine each (class) member, a task that would take hundreds of years," the court said. "Even if the trial were bifurcated (divided into separate phases) as plaintiffs propose, at some point it would be split into millions of trials."

Additionally, the appeals court said the underlying legal claims of fraud and deceit were legally flawed because the U.S. Supreme Court's Cipollone decision states that such claims are pre-empted by federal cigarette labeling laws.

"Today's decision continues the trend of other state and federal decisions over the last two years that have concluded smoking cases are particularly inappropriate for class-action treatment," said John Mulderig, associate general counsel for Philip Morris. "The courts are consistently recognizing that a class action of smokers could hopelessly clog a state or federal court's docket for years and years.

"Also, we are especially pleased the court chose to dismiss the underlying claims on their merits as well."

The ruling followed a series of recent important decisions in favor of the industry. Last week, another New York appellate court overturned a class certification in a separate case, sending the case back to the trial court for a further proceeding on whether the plaintiffs had met the requirements for a class action.

On Monday, a federal court in Maryland dismissed a case brought by five labor-management trust funds that sought to recover expenses of treating members who suffered from alleged smoking-related illnesses.

Today's decision was in five consolidated cases, including Frosina vs. Philip Morris Inc.

/CONTACT: Ken Seda of Philip Morris, 212-878-2144/

(MO) CO: Philip Morris U.S.A. ST: New York IN: TOB SU: LAW

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