United States

Plaintiff, individually and for a class of similarly situated smokers, originally filed this case as a class action against tobacco manufacturers.  Plaintiffs claimed that the defendants committed fraud by marketing “light” cigarettes in violation of the Merchandising Practices Act. Class was defined as "all residents of Missouri who purchased and consumed Defendants' Marlboro Lights cigarettes, in Missouri, at any time between the five years immediately preceding the filing of the Petition in this suit through the date the Court originally certified this suit as a class action (December 31, 2003), but who do not have a claim for personal injury resulting from the purchase or consumption of cigarettes." The district court granted class certification under the MPA. The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division, affirmed that decision. Subsequently, the plaintiff asked the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Division Two, to return the case to Missouri's state court system based on a trend of federal courts sending relevant cases back to state courts due to the lack of timeliness of their original removal to federal courts. The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, Division Two, granted the motion to return the case to the St. Louis City Circuit Court, where the case had originally commenced.