A divided U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday that British American Tobacco must face class-action litigation claiming it misled consumers into believing Natural American Spirit cigarettes were safer than other cigarettes and contained no additives.
Class-Action Litigation
The 2-1 decision by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver included a dissent from a Republican-appointed judge who said the case “likely warrants Supreme Court review,” after the majority let consumers sue Reynolds American — the main U.S. subsidiary of British American — and its units, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco, as a group for damages.
Consumers from 12 U.S. states sued over cigarettes whose labels contained terms such as “100% Additive-Free,” “Natural” and “Organic.” They claimed to have overpaid because the labels falsely conveyed that the cigarettes were “safer and healthier to smoke” than competing cigarettes, despite a disclaimer that the absence of additives “does NOT mean a safer cigarette.”
States Involved
The 12 states are California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Washington.
Circuit Judge Veronica Rossman said Browning wrongly concluded that the damages model for the 12-state class violated a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision to decertify an antitrust class action by Comcast cable TV subscribers.
The appeals court rejected the defendants’ argument that it would be unfeasible to administer the proposed classes. It returned the case to Browning for further proceedings.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
