On Wednesday Michigan became the 13th state to sue tobacco majors including Philip Morris and BAT Industries Plc ta day before an Indianapolis jury is expected to begin deliberations on whether cigarette companies will be held liable for a smoker's addiction.
Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley said the suit, which names 28 separate defendants, sought $2 billion in restitution to the state for past smoking-related health care costs, $2 billion for future anticipated health care costs and $10 billion in punitive damages.
Defendants named in the Michigan suit include: Philip Morris Cos. Inc.; RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp.'s RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co.; Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. and its parent, BAT Industries Plc; Loews Corp.'s Lorillard Tobacco Co.; the Brooke Group Ltd.'s Liggett Group Inc.; UST Inc.'s United States Tobacco Co.; Hill and Knowlton Inc; Wal-Mart Stores Inc.; The Council for Tobacco Research USA Inc; and the Tobacco Institute Inc.
The Marion County Superior Court jury, which was expected to get the case on Thursday, would be the first panel to decide a smoker's wrongful death case since a surprise $750,000 verdict against the industry in Florida.
If the industry can win the case, which resulted in a hung jury last year, it could help soften the blow of the Florida verdict as well as three new state lawsuits this week and the expected release of rules from the FDA curbing young people's access to tobacco.
However, if it loses, it will strengthen the view among plaintiffs' lawyers and jury consultants that jurors' attitudes are changing and that panelists are more willing to hold cigarette companies liable. for a smoker's addiction.
If the plaintiffs win (the Indiapolis case) the tobacco companies are really in the soup, said Richard Daynard, a Northeastern University law professor who chairs the Tobacco Products Liability Project in Boston.
Although the uncertainty from the trial was hurting the stocks, the Indianapolis jury, unlike the Florida panel, was not shown certain inflammatory internal tobacco documents.
Jury consultants said the documents, which concern the tobacco industry's knowledge of nicotine and addiction, angered the Jacksonville, Florida, jury. The papers convinced panelists that tobacco companies try to keep customers hooked and that smoking was not a matter of individual choice, consultants said.
The tobacco industry maintains that nicotine is not addicting and denies that it manipulates the level of nicotine to keep smokers hooked.
Personal injury lawyers have not been overly optimistic about the Indianapolis case because the documents were not allowed in as evidence. The case involves Richard Rogers, an Indianapolis lawyer who died of lung cancer in 1987. Rogers, who was 52 when he died, began smoking as a young child by stealing his father's cigarette butts.
When the case first went to trial last year, the jury was split 5-1 on whether Rogers voluntarily incurred a known risk by smoking.
Heads, we win and it becomes a smashing victory. Tails we lose and nobody thought we would win all of these cases, said Daynard of the Tobacco Products Liability Project.
A loss in the jury case without admission of the key documents could have severe implications for an industry that is facing mounting legal attacks across the country.
Meanwhile, Michigan became the 13th state to take the tobacco industry to court, filing a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking $14 billion in damages from major tobacco firms and their wholesale distributors.
Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley said the suit, which names 28 separate defendants, sought $2 billion in restitution to the state for past smoking-related health care costs, $2 billion for future anticipated health care costs and $10 billion in punitive damages.
Kansas and Arizona filed lawsuits against major tobacco firms on Tuesday, and Oklahoma was expected to file a similar lawsuit sometime this week.
The Michigan suit, filed in Ingham County Circuit Court in Lansing, also asks the court to order tobacco companies to:
