Skip to comments.

Posted on 07/31/2003 5:31:43 PM PDT by Brian S

Thu July 31, 2003 07:20 PM ET By Gina Keating

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles jury on Thursday cleared Philip Morris USA of liability for a former smoker's inoperable lung cancer in a closely watched tobacco lawsuit.

The jury found that smoking was a "substantial factor" in causing Fredric Reller's illness but determined that Philip Morris, a unit of Altria Group Inc., had not misled him about the dangers of smoking.

The jury deadlocked on one fraud count against the tobacco company after six days of deliberation.

"The jury heard clear and compelling evidence that Mr. Reller was well aware of the risks of smoking and was responsible for the smoking decisions he made," William Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris' associate general counsel said. "The jury's decision makes common sense and legal sense."

The case has been closely watched because Reller's attorney, Michael Piuze, has won two record-setting verdicts against Philip Morris.

Piuze said that he would seek a retrial on the one fraud count on which the jury had been unable to reach a conclusion.

"I'm kind of perplexed about the jury's finding that Philip Morris never made a false statement about smoking," Piuze said after the verdicts. "You have to ask the jury what that's about."

Piuze had asked the eight-woman, four-man jury to award Reller actual damages of about $17 million plus punitive damages, Philip Morris said.

A lawyer for Philip Morris said the company would ask the judge to rule from the bench on the remaining count of whether it had fraudulently concealed the risks of smoking.

The trial began last month, with Philip Morris arguing that Reller, 64, was already addicted to nicotine by the time he started smoking the company's cigarettes.

The Reller lawsuit is the first tobacco case to be tried in California since both the state's and the nation's high courts ruled that punitive damages awards should correspond to actual losses. The California Supreme Court set a ratio of 3 to 1 while the U.S. Supreme Court found that the ratio should not exceed 9 to 1.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.