TOBACCO CONTROL LAWS

In re Light Cigarettes Marketing Practices

Various individuals from across the U.S. sought to bring class actions against two large tobacco companies, Philip Morris and Altria Group, for their marketing practices of light cigarettes.  After the cases were consolidated into one federal court for pretrial issues, the court made a ruling rejecting most of the plaintiffs’ class certification requests.  Now only four of the original plaintiffs remain.  This order rejects the companies' request to continue the consolidated cases in one court and sends those remaining claims back to their originating court to proceed based on their respective state laws.

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IN RE: LIGHT CIGARETTES MARKETING SALES PRACTICES LITIGATION (D.Me., 2011)

  • United States
  • Dec 12, 2011
  • U.S. District Court District of Maine

Parties

Plaintiff Tang et. al.

Defendant

  • Altria Group, Inc.
  • Philip Morris USA, Inc.

Legislation Cited

28 U.S.C. § 1407

Related Documents

None

Type of Litigation

Personal Injury
An individual or organization may seek civil damages against a tobacco company based on the claim that the use of tobacco products causes disease or death. Some of these cases will relate to general tobacco products, while others will relate to specific subcategories of tobacco products--for example, light or low products, menthol or other flavored products. Additionally, there may be cases relating to exposure to secondhand smoke.

Tobacco Control Topics

Contents and Disclosures Measures
Measures for testing, measuring, regulating, or disclosing the contents and emissions of tobacco products. (See FCTC Arts. 9 and 10)
Packaging and Labeling Measures
Measures to regulate the marketing on tobacco packages. This includes both bans on false, misleading, deceptive packaging, as well as required health warnings on packaging. (See FCTC Art. 11)
Liability
Measures dealing with criminal and civil liability, including compensation. (See FCTC Art. 19)

Substantive Issues

Consumer Protection Violation

Any violation of a law designed to ensure fair trade, competition, or the free flow of truthful information in the marketplace. For example, a government may require businesses to disclose detailed information about products—particularly in areas where safety or public health is an issue.

Type of Tobacco Product

None

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