Aspartame
EXCERPT:
According to a press release put out by the National Justice League on April 26, 2004, lawsuits were filed in three separate California courts against twelve companies who either produce or use the artificial sweetener aspartame as a sugar substitute in their products: Defendants in the lawsuits include Coca-cola, PepsiCo, Bayer Corp., the Dannon Company, William Wrigley Jr. Company, Walmart, ConAgra Foods, Wyeth, Inc., The NutraSweet Company, and Altria Corp. (parent company of Kraft Foods and Philip Morris).

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Media for Philip Morris...... oh, and decision for Philip Morris USA

Fourth Defense Verdict in an Engle Case in Two Weeks for Philip Morris USA
RICHMOND, Va., Oct 15, 2010 --

Juries in both Hillsborough County and Miami-Dade County today decided in favor of Philip Morris USA in Engle cases. The verdicts today mark the fourth time in two weeks that Florida juries in an Engle case have found for Philip Morris USA.

"We believe that both juries today reached the correct result," said Murray Garnick, Altria Client Services senior vice president and associate general counsel, speaking on behalf of Philip Morris USA. "This string of recent verdicts for the defense shows that Philip Morris USA has powerful defenses in these cases even when trial courts apply unfair procedures that do not require plaintiffs to prove their claims."

"In all these cases, the trial courts violated Florida law and due process by allowing the plaintiffs to rely on general findings from a previous jury with no connection to the specific circumstances of these cases," Garnick added.

The verdicts came in trials of so-called Engle progeny cases following a 2006 Florida Supreme Court decision that decertified a class action but allowed former class action members to file individual lawsuits and rely on general findings from the first class action. Recently, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals severely restricted the ability of plaintiffs in the federal cases to use findings from the prior Engle jury to meet their burden of proof at trial. Neither the plaintiffs here nor any of the other plaintiffs in state courts have complied with the requirements set forth by this ruling.

Last week, both a Duval County jury and a Manatee County jury returned verdicts for Philip Morris USA in other Engle cases (Warrick and Willis).

Today's verdicts were in Campbell v. Philip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds (Hillsborough County) and Frazier v. Philip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds (Miami-Dade County).

Ex Smoker wins 300 million from Philip Morris

Ex-Smoker Wins $300 Million From Philip Morris
Erin Geiger Smith | Nov. 22, 2009, 11:46 AM | 3,194 | 5
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x Email ArticleFrom To Email Sent!You have successfully emailed the post. A Florida jury awarded a woman $300 million in her fraud lawsuit against Philip Morris.

They found her only 10% at fault for choosing to start smoking when she was 20. Cindy Naugle, now 60, smoked for 25 years.

Fort Lauderdale's Sun Sentinel has the full report here.

Philip Morris said it will appeal, and was quite critical of the trial judge in its statement. "Today's verdict was the result of numerous erroneous rulings by the trial judge that allowed the jury to hear extensive evidence totally unrelated to the individual smoker, Lucinda Naugle," Murray Garnick, the general counsel of Philip Morris's parent company, said. "We believe that the punitive damages award is grossly excessive and a clear violation of constitutional and state law."

While these sorts of huge verdict and settlements seem like news out of the late 1990's, big tobacco companies still face court battles relating to their advertising and allegedly undisclosed smoking risks.

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