According to John F. Banzhaf III of Action on Smoking and Health, Supreme Court Hits Big Tobacco Hard in Pocketbook, Opens Doors to Much Bigger Verdicts in State Courts

WASHINGTON, June 11  /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Supreme Court opened the door to much bigger verdicts against the major tobacco companies in a unanimous decision which said that many if not most smoker law suits against the companies can proceed in state courts where damages tend to be much higher, rather than in federal courts as the defendants had pushed for.

"Smokers killed, disabled, or injured by cigarettes which they smoked because of tobacco company's lies now have a better chance of obtaining real justice in amounts which come closer to compensating them," said law professor John Banzhaf of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) http://ash.org/, a legal action antismoking organization.

"Because the courts of many states have the potential for higher damage awards than corresponding federal courts, tobacco companies have long sought to transfer cases filed against them in state court to the federal court system, even on the flimsiest of reasons.  Here they argued that pervasive regulation by the FTC provided a rationale."

But, explains Banzhaf, that justification, if accepted by the Supreme Court, could have robbed state courts of virtually all of their jurisdiction over product liability cases since such products are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and sometimes also other agencies.   Moreover, said Banzhaf, the irony is that cigarettes are virtually the only consumer product which is totally unregulated by the federal government.

"State courts and state court juries which believe that illegal deceptive tactics by major cigarette manufacturers annually cause the death of almost half a million Americans, and cripple and disable millions more, should be able to award the huge damages such actions warrant without interference by the federal government," argues Banzhaf.

Prof. Banzhaf was one of the first to suggest that cigarette makers could be successfully sued by smokers, and worked with attorneys like Melvin Belli to bring some of the earliest law suits.  His organization, ASH, serves as the legal action arm of the antismoking movement, and has championed such law suits for almost forty years.  It also assists in law suits against the tobacco industry.

  PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III
  Executive Director and Chief Counsel
  Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
  2013 H Street, NW
  Washington, DC 20006, USA
  (202) 659-4310 //  http://ash.org/


Action on Smoking and Health


CONTACT: Professor John F. Banzhaf III, Executive Director and Chief
Counsel of ASH, +1-202-659-4310



Web site:  http://ash.org/