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Marlboro cigarette smokers headed to court against Philip Morris USA Wednesday to argue the tobacco company should be responsible for paying for yearly cancer screenings because they sold cigarettes that were overly harmful and put smokers at risk of lung cancer.
The trial opened on Jan. 27, and the Class of Massachusetts residents who were habitual Marlboro smokers asked a Boston jury to require Philip Morris to pay for low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scans that can catch early signs of lung cancer. Use of LDCT in lung screening can lower the risk of lung cancer by as much as 20 percent, the plaintiffs claim.
Although the plaintiffs currently do not exhibit any signs of lung cancer, they argue Philip Morris should be on the hook to pay for their medical monitoring because the tobacco company knowingly sold dangerous cigarettes that had excessive amounts of tar.
The medical monitoring class action lawsuit was initially filed in 2006. Philip Morris repeatedly sought to decertify the Class, but its attempts were unsuccessful. In 2012, a federal judge refused to decertify a Class of current smokers who are aged 50 or older who have smoked Marlboro cigarettes for at least 20 pack years (a pack year is the equivalent of a pack a day for a year). Plaintiffs Kathleen Donovan and Patricia Cawley are serving as the Class representatives.
The plaintiffs say that the LDCT scans would cost $500 per Class Member per year. This relatively new technology is not yet widely available, but it can detect cancer earlier than the current standard options. In the nine years since the Marlboro class action lawsuit was filed, the value of LDCT in detecting cancer has been increasingly recognized. In fact, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services started accepting claims for LDCT this month.
Even though the LDCT scans are more expensive than standard options, the plaintiffs argue Philip Morris should pay for it because their allegedly high-tar Marlboros put them at an increased risk of developing lung cancer.
Philip Morris asserts that it does not owe the smokers anything because they made the choice to smoke the high-tar cigarettes. Therefore, they willingly engaged in dangerous behavior and should not be compensated for it.
In response to assertions that it continued to manufacture the cigarettes with unnecessarily high tar and nicotine content even though it knew how to make safer cigarettes, Philip Morris stated that it had created a safer low-tar cigarette and promoted it in the 1980s, but the market rejected the product.
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 Feb. 10, 2016, A Massachusetts federal jury decided that cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris USA does not have to pay for the yearly cancer screenings of currently healthy Marlboro smokers.
UPDATE 2: On Mar. 10, 2016, Philip Morris asked the federal judge to dismiss the one remaining claim left by the jury trial.
UPDATE 3: 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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27 thoughts onTrial Begins in Marlboro Medical Monitoring Class Action Lawsuit
I smoke this brand for 15 years I wake up with awful coughing and I have copd at the age of 31how do I join this
I also have been smoking Marlboro since 1984, I’m ,51 now. How can I be on the list
I disagree, I have been a Marlboro smoker from the time I was 16 and still and still going at 53. We have become nothing but a sue happy country. We know when we smoke it is not good for us, but do it anyway our bad not theirs. It is just like heroin you know it is bad but people still do on their own accord. No ones fault but your own.
I agree with Lisa,Im a smoker by choice,and Marlboro is my brand. You have the choice to smoke or not it is not the Cigarettes of any brand,you are all wrong in hop on a law suite band wagon to try to get money you dont deserve ! Your health is a choice you made when you started to smoke,not Marlboro and not the tobacco industry ! Shame on you !
Agree Patsy!
I agree with Lisa and Patsy on this as well. This is like suing McDonalds for their food being unhealthy and demanding Lipo. I smoke cigarettes…I know it’s unhealthy. My dad passed away from Lung Cancer and Marlboros were likely the culprit…he knew it was unhealthy. Everyone one is so quick to blame, never taking responsibility for their own actions. Marlboro should not be held accountable for your decision to purchase and enjoy their product.
I too was a marlboro man, I smoked about a pack a day from 1976 to 2012. Please include me in the law suit. i do not have any major smoking related illnesses yet, but, that doesn’t mean I won’t.
how do i put my name on the list?
I have smoked only Marlboro cigarettes ( A pack a day and more ) since I was 9 years old. I am now 55 and have been diagnosed with COPD, Severe Asthma and Emphisyma last year due to my smoking habit. I have been forced to quit since my diagnosis but require daily 8 Litre oxygen treatments nightly. I live in California, but was wondering if this law suit will extend to the Western US or go National if the class is certified by the special magistrate. Please contact me for current developments
I smoked this brand for over 30 years I would like to know how to join the suit. I was a 2 pack a day smoker when I quit.
I was 10 years old when my dad died from lung cancer from smoking he was smoking Marlboro before I was born I wonder I qualify to join this lawsuit
My brother is 47 years old and has smoked Marlboros ever since he was in his teens. Now he wakes up in the am and then through out the day and night that man has a coughing fit and some of the stuff he spits out is blood. A couple of doctors have told him it was from his smoking and he should quit. However that is easy to say, but hard to do he says. He has said it is like the cigarettes have a hold on and over him. In writing I would like to ask if he would be allowed to be a member of this lawsuit? Thank you for your time and help with my request. I pray almighty GOD will bless and watch over you all and your families and keep everyone of you safe and well everyday of this new year! FATHER I ask this in the name of your SON JESUS CHRIST, our LORD and SAVIOR, soon to be our KING! Amen!
So, how do I get on the list… because I smoked this brand for 18 years (a pack a day) until 1982 or 1983-ish… and I am 62 now… I had NO clue about the tar and nicotine and dangers of smoking back then. I quit because they went up to $1.00 a pack. I wasn’t going to burn money that way.
Id like to get on that list myself. I smoked Marlboro for most of my life to get the Marlboro gear. Now i have lung cancer and lost a kidney to cancer that the doctors said was from smokeing. Im also battlink heart problems. Im just a poor person though and dont merit money from a law suite.