Philip Morris ordered to pay millions

Jury: Company misled smokers on safety of low-tar cigarettes

MSNBC NEWS SERVICES

PORTLAND, Ore., March 22 — A jury ordered Philip Morris to pay $150 million in punitive damages Friday in a lawsuit that contended that low-tar cigarettes were as dangerous as regular ones. The tobacco giant immediately said it would appeal the verdict.

THE LAWSUIT was filed by the estate of Michele Schwarz of Salem, who died of lung cancer at age 53 in 1999 after smoking low-tar Merit cigarettes. It was the first involving low-tar brands once viewed as safer than regular cigarettes.

Schwarz had switched from a regular filtered cigarette because she believed the low-tar version would be better for her health, said the attorney for her estate, Lawrence Wobbrock, who contended in Multnomah County Court that Philip Morris marketed the cigarettes as having fewer health risks.

James L. Dumas, one of the company’s attorneys, said Philip Morris did not market Merits as healthier than regular filtered cigarettes. He said the company advertised them as milder, or feeling less harsh.

Wobbrock also contended that smokers were getting the same amount of tar by taking more puffs on their cigarettes and smoking them closer to the butt. But Dumas said it was not the company’s fault that smokers figured out how to get around the low-tar design.

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