Melissa LaFreniere  |  February 10, 2016

Category: Consumer News

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smokerA Massachusetts federal jury decided today that cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris USA does not have to pay for the yearly cancer screenings of currently healthy Marlboro smokers.

According to a Philip Morris spokesman, the jury reached their verdict this morning after starting deliberations yesterday afternoon.

The Marlboro class action lawsuit that consists of tens of thousands of smokers began their trial on Jan. 27 by asking a Boston jury to force Philip Morris to pay for an annual low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scan that is able to catch early signs of lung cancer.

The plaintiffs say that the scans cost $500 per test, which would require the cigarette giant to pay roughly $5 million for every 10,000 smokers each year.

Philip Morris argued that the company doesn’t owe smokers anything because they made the choice to smoke the high-tar cigarettes. The attorney for Philip Morris said in opening arguments that the cigarette company marketed a low-tar alternative in the 1980s but customers rejected it.

The Philip Morris class action lawsuit was filed in 2006 and has faced numerous oppositions over the last nine years.

According to the plaintiffs, use of LDCT in lung screening can lower the risk of lung cancer by as much as 20 percent.

“You don’t want to be catching tumors the size of a baseball. You want to be catching the tumor that’s the size of a [grain of] rice,” the plaintiffs’ attorney stated in open arguments.

The Marlboro cancer screening class action lawsuit states that while the LDCT technology is still relatively new, it has been increasingly recognized over the last few years. In fact, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services started accepting claims for LDCT in January.

The first witness in the Marlboro class action lawsuit was a pulmonologist and a thoracic surgeon who informed the jury that the LDCT scans were far better when compared to X-rays.

Likewise, the second witness who is a retired thoracic surgeon, informed the jury that the LDCT scans were exceedingly better at detecting cancer early.

He told the jury that most often he would see a patient when they began developing cancer symptoms such as coughing up blood, which in that scenario the diagnosis is too advanced to be treated.

U.S. District Judge Denise Casper will now have to decide if Philip Morris violated consumer protection laws, according to a statement made by the corporate parent of Philip Morris.

The plaintiffs are represented by Kevin Peters of Arrowood Peters LLP; Steven Phillips, Victoria Phillips and Aryeh Taub of Phillips & Paolicelli LLP; Christopher Weld Jr. and Edward Foye of Todd & Weld LLP; and David Strouss of Thornton & Naumes LLP.

The Marlboro Cigarettes Class Action Lawsuit is Donovan, et al. v. Philip Morris USA Inc., Case No. 1:06-cv-12234 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

UPDATE: On Mar. 10, 2016, Philip Morris asked the federal judge to dismiss the one remaining claim left by the jury trial.

UPDATE 2: On June 17, 2016, a Class of consumers who smoked Marlboro cigarettes asked a judge not to dismiss the only remaining claim in their Marlboro class action lawsuit that alleges the cigarettes were overly harmful and put smokers at risk of developing lung cancer.

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3 thoughts onJury Denies Cancer Screening in Philip Morris Class Action Lawsuit

  1. Top Class Actions says:

    UPDATE 2: On June 17, 2016, a Class of consumers who smoked Marlboro cigarettes asked a judge not to dismiss the only remaining claim in their Marlboro class action lawsuit that alleges the cigarettes were overly harmful and put smokers at risk of developing lung cancer.

  2. Top Class Actions says:

    UPDATE: On Mar. 10, 2016, Philip Morris asked the federal judge to dismiss the one remaining claim left by the jury trial.

  3. Darren McKinney, American Tort Reform Association says:

    As we say on the hardwood, no harm no foul. Next!

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