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Cigarette Class Action Suits
& Related Newswire
6/21/2006 10:44:00 AM | Smokeless Tobacco: No Chewing, No Spitting, and Fewer Cancer ...
=(0) Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds are both testing a smokeless tobacco product that would help those addicted to nicotine get around the public bans on smoking that more and more communities are enacting. These are not the chewing and spitting kinds of tobacco, but a neat pouch held against the gums. Nicotine is absorbed and while the effect is sa...
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6/20/2006 9:33:00 AM | Parental smoking still a threat to kids' lungs
=(0) Smoking during pregnancy, and smoking in the home where children live, are both serious health problems according to a recent study. Mothers who smoke when pregnant have babies with 30-40% higher risk of poor lung function, and the effect can last as long as 12 years. Second hand smoke in the home is itself a risk factor for lung disease,...
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6/19/2006 8:31:00 PM | San Diego City Council votes to ban smoking on beaches
=(0) The City of San Diego, California is in the process of banning smoking from city parks and beaches. Several other California municipalities have already enacted such bans, including San Francisco and Santa Monica. While some contend the danger of second hand smoke is minimal because the open air is not confined, others approve because of healt...
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6/19/2006 8:19:00 PM | Philip Morris to get $2.15 billion back from Madison County
=(0) Things are looking up for Philip Morris in Madison County, Illinois. It will get back over $2 billion of its appeal bond posted there after it lost a $10 billion judgement in a class action lawsuit. The suit claimed Philip Morris fraudulently claimed its "light" cigarettes were less harmful than regular cigarettes. The verdict was later overturned ...
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6/14/2006 5:14:00 PM | House backs bill banning free tobacco giveaways
=(0) The State of Massachusetts is in the process of banning companies from giving away free samples of tobacco products. The practice encourages young people to try cigarettes, which leads to addiction and serious health problems. The State is also mandating that cigarettes sold there be self-extinguishing, because cigarette fires are the leading...
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6/14/2006 2:45:00 PM | Smokers can't file class-action against Philip Morris
=(0) The Ohio Supreme Court has denied class action status to a lawsuit brought by two Ohio smokers against Philip Morris. A lower court had approved the status but that ruling was overturned. The suit, which can still proceed on its own, involved whether Philip Morris knew that "light" cigarettes are as dangerous as regular ones when it marke...
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5/12/2006 7:36:00 AM | BC court allows tobacco lawsuit to go ahead
=(0) A class action lawsuit in Canada against Imperial Tobacco may proceed, according to an Appeal Court in British Columbia. The suit alleges deceptive marketing which implied that light or mild cigarettes were safer than regular cigarettes. The class was narrowed somewhat, to include only people who purchased this type of cigarette after May...
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3/15/2006 11:39:00 AM | Georgia Supreme Court Ruling Seen Aiding Tobacco Cos >RAI
=(0) A Georgia Supreme Court Ruling is seen as an important precedent for a pending Florida case. The Georgia court ruled that a settlement in 1998 precluded state residents from pursuing additonal lawsuits for punitive damages for tobacco use. However the suit is still active in Federal court....
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2/28/2006 3:08:00 AM | Key doctor in tobacco lawsuit unlikely to outlast payout
=(0) In 1999 a jury in Miami awarded $145 billion to a class of plaintiffs who claim the tobacco industry misled them about the dangers of smoking. That case is still in appeal. The story profiles the lead planiff, a retired Miami pediatrician who, at 86, is so ill he does not expect to live to see any of the money if the award stands....
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