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Big tobacco, in court again. But the stock is still up.
Just two weeks ago, Philip Morris USA and five other cigarette makers were sued in a federal court in Boston by a group seeking to recover $60 billion for the government in Medicare benefits for smoking-related diseases. Lawyers for the group, the United Seniors Association, said the law also allowed the court to award an additional $60 billion to the plaintiff. The lawsuit is just the latest in more than 50 years of legal challenges to the tobacco industry. Hundreds of other cases are still pending in this country and abroad, including some that have been grinding on for years, like the federal government's effort to claim $280 billion in a racketeering case. … In addition, Philip Morris is a defendant in 151 cases in other countries. … They are the federal government's case and two class-action suits -- one in Florida that could cost Philip Morris $74 million and other companies $69 million, and the other in Illinois, where Philip Morris is the lone defendant, facing a lower court verdict of $10.1 billion. ''Whatever spin the companies give you, they are still under a serious threat from all three of these cases,'' said Richard A. Daynard, associate dean at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston and chairman of its Tobacco Products Liability Project. ''There's a reasonable likelihood they could get a bad result in any or all of them.''
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