Appeals Court Affirms Smoking Suit Dismissal

Philip Morris Cos. and other tobacco companies defeated an appeal brought by union trust funds and six state Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurers who had sought to recover money paid to treat smoking-related illnesses. The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago affirmed a lower court’s decision to throw out the suit, finding the supposed harm suffered by the plaintiffs was too remote from the tobacco companies’ alleged wrongdoing to permit an award. The decision also reversed a lower court’s ruling that allowed the Blue Cross insurers’ claims to go forward. “The problem for both the Funds and the Blues is not that they deal with smokers rather than with providers of medical care but that they do not deal with tobacco producers, the supposed wrongdoers,” Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote in the opinion. Plaintiffs in the case included the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 734 Health and Welfare Trust Fund; Central States Joint Board Health and Welfare Trust Fund; and Blue Cross and Blue Shield associations of Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and North Dakota. Shares of New York-based Philip Morris rose closed up 69 cents at $26.06 on the NYSE.