In an action against a tobacco company alleging wrongful death resulting from lung cancer caused by the defective and unreasonably dangerous nature of cigarettes, the widow of a deceased smoker appealed the trial court's denial of her motion to set aside the jury verdict in the defendant's favor. The Supreme Court of Mississippi affirmed the trial court's denial of the motion, finding that the products liability claim of design defect was unsupported by plaintiff's evidence. The Court further found, among other things, that the trial court appropriately refused to specifically instruct the jury as to negligence, and that the trial court properly excluded evidence demonstrating the defendant's disregard of scientific reports linking cigarette smoking to cancer.
Nunnally v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, 869 So.2d 373, Supreme Court of Mississippi (2004).
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.
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)
The court might consider procedural matters without touching the merits of the case. These might include: improper joinder, when third parties, such as Health NGOs or government officials, seek to become parties to the suit; lack of standing, where a plaintiff fails to meet the minimum requirements to bring suit; lack of personal jurisdiction, where the court does not have jurisdiction to rule over the defendant; or lack of subject matter jurisdiction, where the court does not have jurisdiction over the issue at suit.
A plaintiff’s liability may be limited where she has accepted the risks and consequences of her behavior. The tobacco industry may argue that the dangers of smoking are well known, so liability should be limited.
Type of Tobacco Product
None
Limitations regarding the use of quotes The quotes provided here reflect statements from a specific decision. Accordingly, the International Legal Consortium (ILC) cannot guarantee that an appellate court has not reversed a lower court decision which may influence the applicability or influence of a given quote. All quotes have been selected based on the subjective evaluations undertaken by the ILC meaning that quotes provided here may not accurately or comprehensively represent a given court’s opinion or conclusion, as such quotes may have originally appeared alongside other negative opinions or accompanying facts. Further, some quotes are derived from unofficial English translations, which may alter their original meaning. We emphasize the need to review the original decision and related decisions before authoritatively relying on quotes. Using quotes provided here should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter in any jurisdiction. Please see the full limitations at https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/about.
"First, we consider plaintiff’s negligent design claim. Our holding in Estate of Hunter v. General Motors Corp., 729 So.2d 1264 (Miss. 1999), is directly on point. In Hunter, the trial court refused to accept the plaintiff's requested negligence instruction. Instead, the court gave an instruction based on the risk-utility test set out in Prestage, just as the trial judge did here. In Hunter, we relied on United States v. Carroll Towing Co., 159 F.2d 169, 173 (2d Cir. 1947), for the proposition that "[t]he risk-utility balancing test is merely a detailed version of Judge Learned Hand's negligence calculus." 729 So.2d at 1277. "As a commonsense matter, the jury weighs competing factors presented in evidence and reaches a conclusion about the judgment or decision (i.e., conduct) of the manufacturer. The underlying negligence calculus is inescapable." Hunter, 729 So.2d at 1277. "An examination of the riskutility [sic] test establishes that the test is essentially a negligence test, and [there was]....no error in failing to grant a negligence instruction in addition to the risk-utility test." Id. at 1278. Because Hunter controls the case at hand, we find that the trial court did not err when it refused to submit a negligence instruction in addition to the Prestage-based instruction."
Limitations regarding the use of quotes The quotes provided here reflect statements from a specific decision. Accordingly, the International Legal Consortium (ILC) cannot guarantee that an appellate court has not reversed a lower court decision which may influence the applicability or influence of a given quote. All quotes have been selected based on the subjective evaluations undertaken by the ILC meaning that quotes provided here may not accurately or comprehensively represent a given court’s opinion or conclusion, as such quotes may have originally appeared alongside other negative opinions or accompanying facts. Further, some quotes are derived from unofficial English translations, which may alter their original meaning. We emphasize the need to review the original decision and related decisions before authoritatively relying on quotes. Using quotes provided here should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter in any jurisdiction. Please see the full limitations at https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/about.
In an action against a tobacco company alleging wrongful death resulting from lung cancer caused by the defective and unreasonably dangerous nature of cigarettes, the widow of a deceased smoker appealed the trial court's denial of her motion to set aside the jury verdict in the defendant's favor. The Supreme Court of Mississippi affirmed the trial court's denial of the motion, finding that the products liability claim of design defect was unsupported by plaintiff's evidence. The Court further found, among other things, that the trial court appropriately refused to specifically instruct the jury as to negligence, and that the trial court properly excluded evidence demonstrating the defendant's disregard of scientific reports linking cigarette smoking to cancer.