Cigarette companies face $200bn class action

A US federal judge yesterday granted class action status to tens of millions of “light cigarette” smokers for a potential $200 billion (€157bn) lawsuit against tobacco companies.

US District Judge Jack Weinstein in Brooklyn made the ruling on a 2004 lawsuit that alleges Philip Morris USA Inc, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co, Lorillard Tobacco Co and other defendants duped smokers, and responded to consumers’ mounting health concerns with a campaign of deception designed to preserve revenue. The class is anyone who purchased cigarettes that were labelled “light” or “lights” after they were put on the market, beginning in the early 1970s.

In arguing last week for the class certification, plaintiff attorney Michael D Hausfeld said the manufacturers hoped to “move markets” with a cynical marketing promoting lights as a lower-risk alternative to regular cigarettes, even though internal documents showed they knew the risks were about the same.

“They understood that they were selling death,” he said. The question, he added, was “how to disguise it. They put on ‘lights’”.