SAN FRANCISCO, April 8 (UPI) -- A California appeals court has thrown out a $21.7 million award against two tobacco companies because legal action covered a 10-year protected period.
The decision marked the first time a jury award had been overturned as a result of a California Supreme Court ruling in 2002 that determined the effect of previous legislative protections for the industry, the Los Angeles Times reported.
That unanimous ruling said because the state had shielded the tobacco industry from lawsuits from 1988 to 1998, diseased smokers who sue may not present evidence of misconduct during those years.
Leslie Whiteley, the cancer-stricken smoker who won the $21.7 million verdict against Philip Morris USA (now known as Altria Group Inc.) and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., died shortly after it was awarded in 2000. Her case was on appeal when the California high court decided how lower courts should deal with the 10-year immunity period for the industry.
