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Illinois
(Courtesy, AP & Illinois Civil Justice League)
-The Illinois Supreme Court threw out a $10 billion
class-action lawsuit against Philip Morris USA on December 15,
ruling the company did not defraud customers in its marketing
for "light" cigarettes.
The court reversed
the verdict and sent the case back to Madison County court with
instruction to dismiss the matter.
The deeply divided
Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Trade Commission
specifically allowed companies to characterize their cigarettes
as "light" and "low tar," so Philip Morris did not improperly
mislead customers about the health impacts of its cigarettes.
Madison County Judge
Nicholas Byron agreed that Philip Morris misled customers into
believing they were buying a less harmful cigarette. In March
2003, he ordered the company to pay $10.1 billion - $5 billion
in compensatory damages, $3 billion in punitive damages and $2.1
billion in interest.
Hear
Audio Interview with ICJL President Ed Murnane
Read Court Opinion
Read Press Release from Illinois Civil Justice League
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(Courtesy ATRA)
The fourth annual "Judicial Hellholes®" report, a ranking
of the worst courts in the United States, was released earlier
this week by the
American
Tort Reform Association.
 The overwhelming
majority of state courts dispense justice in a fair and
impartial manner. By way of contrast, Judicial Hellholes are a
few, but powerful, courts that have a disproportionately harmful
impact on civil litigation. Litigation tourists, who neither
lived nor were injured in these jurisdictions, are guided by
their personal injury lawyers who seek out these places because
they know they will produce a positive outcome, an excessive
verdict or settlement, a favorable precedent, or both. This is
venue shopping run wild.
"It is possible to
quench the fires in Judicial Hellholes with the help of judges,
legislators, the electorate and the media," said Sherman Joyce,
President of the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA). "By
shining the spotlight on the abuses in these jurisdictions,
Judicial Hellholes can become fair courts.”
Download
Judicial Hellholes 2005
Download WV Correction
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