In Court, Philip Morris Uses Civil-Rights Smokescreen

Tobacco giant plays civil-rights card in battle with Oregon court over $79M judgment

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 5, 2008 3:17 PM CST

(Newser) – Philip Morris has cast itself as a civil-rights victim being denied due process, Stephanie Mencimer writes for Mother Jones. The tobacco giant, ordered by an Oregon jury in 1999 to pay $79 million in punitive damages to a woman whose husband died of lung cancer, has been fighting the award ever since, taking its case to the US Supreme Court three times.

The high court twice urged Oregon to lower the award but has been ignored. After the Oregon’s court latest maneuver sidestepping the order, Philip Morris likened its plight to that of the NAACP in a 1958 case in Alabama. The widow’s attorney called the strategy “brazen,” but she now faces a Supreme Court potentially irked at its snub from a lower court.

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Philip Morris has been locked in a legal battle against a woman whose husband died from lung cancer in 1997, after smoking three packs of Marlboros a day for more than 40 years. (AP Photo)

Mayola Williams, in wheelchair, widow of Jesse Williams, who died of lung cancer, leaves the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File)

Mayola Williams, in wheelchair, widow of Jesse Williams, who died of lung cancer, leaves the Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, file)

Philip Morris' victimhood dates back to 1999, when an Oregon jury hit the company with a $79 million punitive damages award in a lawsuit a smoking widow filed after her husband died. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

A Marlboro cigarette leans against a pack of Marlboros cigarettes. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, file)

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The verdict was a rare smoker's victory. For nearly 50 years, Philip Morris had defeated an endless string of personal injury lawsuits by waging a war of attrition on the plaintiffs.
- Stephanie Mencimer, Mother Jones

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In Court, Philip Morris Uses Civil-Rights Smokescreen