New York, April 4 (Bloomberg) -- Philip Morris Cos., ordered by West Coast juries to pay more than $300 million over the deaths or illnesses of five smokers, says trial errors will keep the No. 1 tobacco company from having to pay the awards.

The cigarette maker says its appeals in those cases argue that trial judges made erroneous rulings and allowed excessive punitive damages, and that the plaintiffs didn't prove that any of Philip Morris's statements caused people to smoke. ``In fraud cases, you have to identify a specific statement of facts that affected the plaintiff,'' said William Ohlemeyer, vice president and associate general counsel of the New York-based company. ``They have no proof that it affected the plaintiffs directly.'' Anti-tobacco activists counter that the juries have spoken and the tobacco company doesn't like having to pay for years of deceiving smokers about the health risks of cigarettes. The West Coast losses are an exception to tobacco companies' success in fending off most lawsuits around the U.S. by individual smokers. The companies also lost a class-action verdict in Miami, where jurors awarded $145 billion to Florida smokers, an amount cigarette makers say might bankrupt the industry if upheld on appeal. Last month a jury in Portland, Oregon, told Philip Morris to pay more than $150 million to the family of a deceased Oregon smoker. Other jury verdicts against Philip Morris since 1999 include $51.5 million awarded in San Francisco to a lung cancer victim and later cut to $26.5 million; $81 million, later reduced to $32 million, awarded in Portland, Oregon, to a deceased smoker's family, and $21.7 million to a longtime smoker in a San Francisco case that also named R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. as a defendant. Also, an initial $3 billion verdict in Los Angeles to a lung cancer victim was cut by the judge to $100 million. `Lot of Specifics' Legal experts say appeals courts might not view all the cases the same way. ``There are a lot of specifics in these cases,'' said Robert Rabin, a Stanford University law professor. ``When these cases are appealed, it's difficult to say they will all be overturned or all will succeed.'' Ohlemeyer says the punitive damages in the five cases are out of proportion to the amounts intended to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries. Last month's award in Portland included $150 million in punitive damages and $168,000 in compensatory damages. Rabin says that if the ``gap were wide enough'' between compensatory damages and punitive damages, a case would be more likely to draw close examination on appeal. Still, he said, it's hard to predict whether such a case would attract U.S. Supreme Court review. `Court of Last Resort' The tobacco industry ``has a notion that the Supreme Court sits to bail out the tobacco companies as a court of last resort,'' said Richard Daynard, a Northeastern University law professor and chairman of the school's Tobacco Products Liability Project. While the high court has decided some punitive damages were excessive, it has never considered the issue in a product- liability case involving tobacco. ``They have not seen these cases,'' said Daynard. ``I think they would uphold a high level of punitive damages.'' Philip Morris also says it has revised its advertising following the 1998 settlement in which the tobacco industry agreed to pay $246 billion to settle lawsuits by the states. The company claims that should be enough. ``They think we need to be punished and should not do things in that fashion,'' Ohlemeyer said. ``We have changed and promised not to do them anymore.'' Trial Errors? The company also says judges in the cases made erroneous rulings. In last month's Portland case, Philip Morris requested a mistrial during deliberations after documents were found in the jury room that had been ruled inadmissible by trial Judge Roosevelt Robinson. In addition, exhibits submitted by the plaintiffs were marked and highlighted, while the Philip Morris documents were unmarked. In one instance, a note by the plaintiff's attorneys was attached to a document. Though Philip Morris attorneys said this tainted the jurors, Robinson warned the jurors to disregard the evidence and let them continue deliberating. The judge did show concern, though. ``We're in a swamp with the water rising,'' Robinson told attorneys while sorting through the documents. Ohlemeyer said, ``These cases are complex and difficult to try, but when the rules are ignored or aren't applied evenly, it's hard to believe both sides got a fair trial. We are optimistic about reversing this verdict on appeal.'' Daynard said courts understand that people are imperfect and that such a ``screw-up'' would not be enough to throw out the verdict. ``People misplace things. Are they going to reverse on that?'' Daynard asked. ``It's a preview of a dry legal argument that probably wouldn't get anywhere.''

<< Prev	CIGoutlet.NET News Home	Next >>