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Tobacco Magnate Dies At 92 Last Update: 5/1/2004 1:20:52 PM New York, NY (AP) 05/01/04 - Joseph F. Cullman III, the Philip Morris executive who became the cigarette industry's chief defender against the anti-tobacco movement for decades, died Friday at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 92. Cullman retired as chairman and chief executive in 1978, but remained as chairman emeritus, lobbying legislators and defending cigarettes at Congressional hearings. In 1971, when the government banned cigarette advertising on television, Cullman said in an interview, "I do not believe that cigarettes are hazardous to one's health." In response to a question...

January 15, 2004 Lobbyist: Corporation Provides Air Travel For Richardson By Barry MasseyThe Associated Press        SANTA FE   —   A subsidiary of a tobacco and food conglomerate paid nearly $17,000 for air travel by Gov. Bill Richardson and several of his aides on an out-of-state trip last year.     The travel was reported by a lobbyist for Altria Corporate Services Inc., a subsidiary of Altria Group Inc.   —   the New York-based parent of the world's largest cigarette company, Philip Morris.     The company provided travel to Washington and Chicago in late September on "corporate aircraft" for...

<p>Philip Morris Co. has sued nearly 300 Northern California retailers -- many of them small delis, corner stores and produce markets -- claiming that they're misleading smokers and cheating the tobacco giant by selling counterfeit packs of Marlboro cigarettes.</p> <p>In two lawsuits filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco and Sacramento, Philip Morris named 48 San Francisco gas stations, groceries and liquor stores among the businesses it accused of selling cigarettes that came in Marlboro packaging but weren't authentic. Philip Morris owns the Marlboro brand, the nation's No. 1-selling cigarette.</p>

FORT WORTH -- Philip Morris USA has settled a lawsuit in the case of a toddler who was severely burned when a cigarette left in a car started a fire, the first time the nation's top cigarette maker has paid damages in a personal injury case. The attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the girl said Thursday that the settlement of more than $2 million could have been much higher. "It's really not enough money for this type of case, but getting the money to her today was better than waiting for the appeals process if we won...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Monday threw out an $80 million verdict against cigarette-maker Philip Morris.</p> <p>The verdict, for the family of an Oregon janitor who died in 1997 of lung cancer, should be reviewed by lower courts to ensure it is not unconstitutionally excessive, justices said.</p>

High Court tosses Philip Morris judgment By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday threw out an $80 million verdict against cigarette-maker Philip Morris. The verdict, for the family of an Oregon janitor who died in 1997 of lung cancer, should be reviewed by lower courts to ensure it is not unconstitutionally excessive, justices said. The court's action was encouraging for businesses, which hope a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year will lead to reductions in large punitive damage verdicts. It was the second victory for Philip Morris in its legal battles with the family...

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...

Republicans on the Senate committee that oversees the Food and Drug Administration are circulating a bill that would give the agency the power to regulate tobacco products. "I think we've drafted a pretty good bill, and I think the chances of passage are excellent," the committee chairman, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, said Thursday. The legislation would give the FDA authority over the marketing, production and distribution of tobacco products. Sen. Mike DeWine, the lead sponsor of the bill, said the legislation was "very tough" and he predicted it would win support from Democrats. Last year, DeWine, R-Ohio, and...

Philip Morris, the world's biggest tobacco company, is facing a lawsuit from US cigarette wholesalers who claim that a new marketing programme violates antitrust laws. Under the programme, Philip Morris will sell cigarettes at different prices to wholesalers according to what proportion of their sales involve the company's brands. The best deal is reserved for distributors for whom Philip Morris brands such as Marlboro constitute up to 49.9 per cent of their revenues. The new programme, launched on June 30, is part of an attempt by Philip Morris USA, the US tobacco arm of Altria Group, to combat the rise...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Philip Morris USA, in an effort to whittle down a $10.1 billion damages award, asked a judge in Chicago on Friday to permanently block $3 billion in punitive damages that was assigned to the state of Illinois last month by another judge. Thomas Frederick, an attorney representing the cigarette maker, said he filed a complaint in Cook County Circuit Court seeking a permanent injunction against Illinois collecting that money. The company argued the state had relinquished any future claims against Philip Morris when it joined 45 other states in a settlement with U.S. tobacco companies in 1998....

<p>AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Maine is getting its $20 million share of Philip Morris USA tobacco settlement money, which came into question as a result of a court case in Illinois, Attorney General G. Steven Rowe said.</p> <p>At stake for Maine was about half of Philip Morris's $40 million payment to Maine as part of a 1998 tobacco settlement. Rowe said Monday he received assurances that the company was going to make its payment on schedule Tuesday.</p>

<p>Philip Morris USA will remove the controversial words "lowered tar and nicotine" from packages of at least some of its "light" cigarettes, a spokesman for the company's parent, Altria Group Inc., said Tuesday.</p> <p>The spokesman could provide no other details.</p>

Government Seeks $289 Billion From Tobacco Industry By Jonathan D. Salant Associated Press Writer Published: Mar 18, 2003 WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's tobacco companies should forfeit $289 billion in profits for a scheme to deceive and defraud smokers and the general public, the Justice Department says in court filings. In more than 1,400 pages filed in U.S. District Court as part of the government's suit against the tobacco industry, the Justice Department estimated 440,000 Americans die each year from smoking cigarettes or being exposed to secondhand smoke, or one of every five deaths in the United States. The...

<p>Philip Morris USA's decision to desert the Big Apple for a new home down south will bring some real economic benefits to the Richmond area.</p> <p>But it may also revive Richmond's slowly fading image as a big tobacco town, which is just fine with some folks, not so fine with others.</p>

Some day, as corporations that honor marriage and family are hounded out of business or prosecuted, it will be accurate to say: "This was brought to you by the executives of Anheuser-Busch, Kodak, ChevronTexaco, Wells Fargo, Philip Morris Companies Inc., and other corporations that promoted perversity for short-term gain." - Robert Knight, Culture and Family Institute 1/14/2003 The Culture and Family Institute reports five corporations are being honored this month in the pro-homosexual "OUT" magazine for their aggressive sponsorship of homosexuality, including funding homosexual political groups and transgender activism, promoting homosexuality in the schools and even underwriting "gay" rodeos....

Mideast just isn't Marlboro country Anti-American sentiment makes U.S. cigarette an untrendy brand for Palestinians Thursday, December 05, 2002BY IBRAHIM HAZBOUN ASSOCIATED PRESS RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Swept up in anti-American sentiment, Palestinians increasingly want the Marlboro man out of town.Many smokers, especially young trendsetters, have switched to French-made Gauloises, which they say are similar in taste and a dollar a pack cheaper.American cigarettes, particularly Marlboros, have been the main target of a boycott of U.S.-made products organized several months ago by Palestinian activists. The campaign has resonance among many Palestinians upset by what they see as Washington's one-sided support...

A $28 billion award shows that Californians are willing to hit cigarette makers in the pocketbook -- but don't expect the award to stand, attorneys and academics who monitor tobacco litigation say. "A judge would have no trouble knocking off a zero," said David Levine, who teaches civil procedure and remedies at Hastings College of the Law. "I see no prospect at all that this $28 billion award is going to hold up." Levine made his assessment Friday after a jury returned the record punitive damages award for Betty Bullock, a Newport Beach, Calif., woman suffering from lung cancer that...

<p>NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Philip Morris Cos., the No. 1 cigarette maker, was ordered Friday to pay a record $28 billion to a 64-year-old woman with lung cancer who blamed her tobacco addiction on the company's failure to warn her of the risks of smoking.</p>

Filed at 2:51 p.m. ET LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A jury awarded a record-shattering $28 billion in punitive damages Friday to a 64-year-old former smoker who sued Philip Morris Inc. for fraud and negligence. The Superior Court jury awarded the amount to Betty Bullock, who started smoking when she was 17 and was diagnosed last year with lung cancer that has since spread to her liver. Last month, the jury ordered the tobacco company to pay Bullock $750,000 in damages and $100,000 for pain and suffering. Philip Morris said it would appeal. ``This jury should have focused on what the...

NEW YORK - Philip Morris wants to black out the online gray market for smokes. Only problem is, the company is tilting at ghosts. On Sept. 19, Philip Morris USA, a division of Philip Morris, filed eight lawsuits in New York and California against Web sites Dfshop.org, cheapmarlboro.com, smoke.shop4all.net and others for the illegal sale of foreign-made cigarettes to United States and Canadian consumers. The company is also suing over trademark infringement and false claims that the sites make about the legality of their sales. In two complaints released by Philip Morris, the company names defendants with WHOIS-registered addresses in...