California Superior Court Judge Rules For PM USA In "Lights" Class Action Case

(RTTNews) - California Superior Court Judge, Ronald Prager issued his final decision in favor of Philip Morris USA's or PM USA in a 16-year-old class-action "Lights" cigarette case. The court rejected plaintiffs' efforts to impose as much as a billion dollars in liability against PM USA and ruled that plaintiffs are not entitled to any relief.

The plaintiffs claimed in this lawsuit, originally filed in June 1997, that PM USA violated California's Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law by using the terms "Lights" and "Lowered Tar and Nicotine" on cigarette packages. Plaintiffs sought to recover a portion of the money paid by California smokers who purchased Marlboro Lights between 1998 and 2001.

In his decision, Ronald Prager said that, "based the totality of the evidence including real world market data and the extensive absent class member testimony, this Court concludes that the restitution value is zero."

In rejecting plaintiffs' request for injunctive relief, the court stated: "Plaintiffs failed to present any specific evidence entitling them to injunctive relief. To the contrary, the evidence established that the descriptors on which the Plaintiffs base their case have been removed and, because of changes in the law, these descriptors can never be used again.