Absurd Legal Awards
Sick & Wrong Department
| March 26, 2003
| Tim
I'm no fan of tobacco. Cigarettes killed most of the previous generation on my father's side of the family, many of whom (much to my parents' embarassment) I publicly begged to stop smoking, as a small child.
But I also think there's something wrong in our current legal climate. New legal tactics are tried out on the cigarette companies first, because, hey, who's a friend of big tobacco? But on the other hand, class action lawsuits are getting absurd, and the latest Philip Morris suit seems to illustrate this.
The $10.1 billion award, which finds Philip Morris deceived consumers regarding "light" (so-called "low tar") cigarettes, will pay back Illinois consumers for the price difference between "light" and regular cigarettes. Except, well, not really.
First, other than a few tokens, no other specific members of the class have been identified. And its not clear (to me, anyway) how a consumer will prove a specific loss of money. Were they supposed to keep receipts for each pack they purchased?
So while its not clear exactly who the platiffs are, or how they agreed to the split, it is clear that the lawyers will receive 25% of the compensationatory damages, or $1.8 billion! (That's a phenomenal amount of money...) And should these 1 million consumers not come forward, or be able to prove their entire $7,100 in cigarette overcharges, where will the remainder go?
Three billion dollars will be given to the state of Illinois. My aunt (who is now dead from smoking) bought thousands of dollars of cigarettes in Illinois, and you give 30% of the returns to the state which failed to protect them from this consumer fraud?
"It's as if the court is saying, 'We don't really know who (the tobacco company) did this to, but we know you did it to somebody, so we'll collect it and give it away to whoever we can think of,'" "It all sounds very nice to give to charities and the state, but that's just not good legal logic, in my opinion. That's almost like a form of communism." [Philip Morris lawyer DeLaurenti]
[Plaintiff counsel] Tillery said Illinois law gives judges the right to award punitive damages to the state. "I think it was a good decision," Tillery said. "And I believe [Democrat] Gov. Blagojevich will be standing right beside me on that in the 5th [Appellate] District."
Next, unclaimed compensatory damages, up to $7.1 billion dollars, will go to fund the creation of yet more lawyers -- supporting 11 law schools, two of which are not even in Illinois. How will my deceased smoking relatives be helped by giving money to wealthy law schools in a different state?
Finally, some money goes "charities" and other "noble causes". Yet close inspection reveals almost all of these charitable donations are actually indirect contributions to lawyers, also: The Illinois bar association, legal aid foundations (which pay lawyers, again), a group which supports lawsuits when women are abused (again, back into lawyer pockets, while again appearing charitable), and of course, we're throwing in some cash to the American Cancer Society, lest every last penny be clearly seen to go to the lawyers.
Think about it, this lawsuit is funding trial lawyers, lawyers, lawyers, more lawyers, yet more lawyers, government workers, and the state of Illinois.
How were these chosen? The judge chose them, based on no particular stated reasons. Imagine: A large company hurts consumers, and a judge orders them to pay -- not the consumers -- but lots of money to other unrelated causes of the judge's choosing. This kind of unchecked judicial power is an alarming trend.
This part of the story has been ignored by the national media; I've had to search through the local coverage to find this information. [1, 2] Its important that I report on this because there are six to ten more lawsuits just like this brewing in other states, and this kind of class action suit, with unknown, unidentified class members and awards given to judicial pet causes, could become a significant trend.
Again, I understand that harm could be proved to consumers. But I can't see how a group of consumers -- who haven't even been identified, for heaven's sakes -- are going to be helped by giving lawyers all their money, to use for less noble causes, such as political lobbying or lawsuits that stiffle innovation or freedom of expression.
TIM, HOW TERRIBLY NAIVE WE CAN BE......if only you knew, how much in the dark you are, on an issue you think you might know about, but truly you know very little about! This is a case, where the statement, there is only white and black, proves so silly. We all know there are an infinate number of shades of grey! Now, just try to add color! Let me try to explain.
I only hope you don't loose a loved one to 1) Cancer, 2) Emphysema, 3) Heart Disease, or 4) Secondary Disease(s) (before you open the curtain to SEE THE LIGHT, LIKE MY OWN PERSONAL LOSSES, listed as above: 1) Father, 2)Mother, 3) three uncles, one cousin, 4) 3 cousins with illnesses like mine, & 2 dead from early adolescent diabetes
And ME? I have a destroyed Thyroid, that went undetermined for 19 years! It led to dozens of related health issues! I was underweight & prematurely born; I have a lifetime of illness and now am unemployed (I was making $220K per year in Computer Sales & Consulting-take that times the number of people like me alone, and the cost is trillions in lost productivity) due to health, starting at age 46. Severe joint pain, so bad, I cry daily & I TAKE 290mg of morphine a day), I have had skin cancer, I cannot sleep, and my immune system is shot!
There are literally hundreds of chemicals that these BIG TOBACCO COMPANIES included in tobacco to enhance the delivery agent, nicotine, the "addictiveness" mechanism of tobacco like: Ammonia, Various Butanes & petroleum products, Cyanide derivatives, etc., OR, about the outright lies told by Executives as recent as 9 years ago when the top 50 execs went before a Special Congressional inquiry into "What did they know, when did they know it, and what did they do to keep you addicted", EVERY SINGLE EXEC denied any effort whatsoever, in all their combined 2000+ years in the industry, of EVER trying to enhance nicotine, or the delivery mechanism to "keep you hooked"! GO TO: http://ash.org/sue-tobacco-companies to learn how bad they truly are! They ruined my life, my father's, my mother's, my 3 very close uncles, my Grandfather, my Step-grandfather, My Wife and my personal lose of 5 pregnancies (Dr. says because of my health problems as a child affected my ability to conceive EVEN though we have 3 kids) Try holding your dead son in the palm of your hand, after you have to fish "him" out of the toilet bowl, OR, endure the looks and stares of neighbors who think your wife she is doing something INTENTIONALLY to loose her kids!! (Before we had our 1st child!) THE PAIN IS NEVER ENDING, and I haven't even began.
SURE, they didn't have to smoke, but did they truly NOT want to quit? In my mother's case, she tried for years, and my Father quite for 18 years, only to start again. Only 5 1/2 years after restarting he died of lung cancer!
INTERESTINGLY, Did you know, in a remote part of the world, in a dense rain forest, where "tribes who do smoke" freely & EASILY quit twice a year, because they use the tobacco to make other products important to their survival. THIS IS ENTIRE WHOLE SOCIETIES that quit easily, and don't have artificially high amounts of nicotine, the substance that makes it very difficult to quit! They do so because all those executives didn't cheat smokers and keep them from having, at least an honest chance. WORSE, they lied, for 18 years after this what brought out! In that time, over 1.78 million more Americans, (alone) died directly from lung cancer, & emphysema, contributed "to smoking" on their death certificates. What was the REAL number?
Tim, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Just think how very much more "vibrant" & "culturally rich of a society", "how more meaningful our life’s" would be, with older wiser, family members ALIVE to enjoy JUST our grandchildren?
Now rethink what you just said, do you have just a hint of a different perspective? At one time we thought the world was flat too. Don’t beat yourself up, instead, research, read, and help educate your loved ones, while YOU STILL CAN!
We can be so naïve, and down right stupid, huh?
Now the real issue is simply this: BIG TOBACCO KNEW WHAT nicotine did, and they searched for every possible way, to GET you hooked and KEEP YOU HOOKED, regardless the outcome! All in the name of the mighty BUCK! This is our life's greatest tragedy, not terrorism! This is self inflicted terrorism at the hands of a few executives of BIG TOBACCO!
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TIM, HOW TERRIBLY NAIVE WE CAN BE......if only you knew, how much in the dark you are, on an issue you think you might know about, but truly you know very little about! This is a case, where the statement, there is only white and black, proves so silly. We all know there are an infinate number of shades of grey! Now, just try to add color! Let me try to explain.
I only hope you don't loose a loved one to 1) Cancer, 2) Emphysema, 3) Heart Disease, or 4) Secondary Disease(s) (before you open the curtain to SEE THE LIGHT, LIKE MY OWN PERSONAL LOSSES, listed as above: 1) Father, 2)Mother, 3) three uncles, one cousin, 4) 3 cousins with illnesses like mine, & 2 dead from early adolescent diabetes
And ME? I have a destroyed Thyroid, that went undetermined for 19 years! It led to dozens of related health issues! I was underweight & prematurely born; I have a lifetime of illness and now am unemployed (I was making $220K per year in Computer Sales & Consulting-take that times the number of people like me alone, and the cost is trillions in lost productivity) due to health, starting at age 46. Severe joint pain, so bad, I cry daily & I TAKE 290mg of morphine a day), I have had skin cancer, I cannot sleep, and my immune system is shot!
There are literally hundreds of chemicals that these BIG TOBACCO COMPANIES included in tobacco to enhance the delivery agent, nicotine, the "addictiveness" mechanism of tobacco like: Ammonia, Various Butanes & petroleum products, Cyanide derivatives, etc., OR, about the outright lies told by Executives as recent as 9 years ago when the top 50 execs went before a Special Congressional inquiry into "What did they know, when did they know it, and what did they do to keep you addicted", EVERY SINGLE EXEC denied any effort whatsoever, in all their combined 2000+ years in the industry, of EVER trying to enhance nicotine, or the delivery mechanism to "keep you hooked"! GO TO: http://ash.org/sue-tobacco-companies to learn how bad they truly are! They ruined my life, my father's, my mother's, my 3 very close uncles, my Grandfather, my Step-grandfather, My Wife and my personal lose of 5 pregnancies (Dr. says because of my health problems as a child affected my ability to conceive EVEN though we have 3 kids) Try holding your dead son in the palm of your hand, after you have to fish "him" out of the toilet bowl, OR, endure the looks and stares of neighbors who think your wife she is doing something INTENTIONALLY to loose her kids!! (Before we had our 1st child!) THE PAIN IS NEVER ENDING, and I haven't even began.
SURE, they didn't have to smoke, but did they truly NOT want to quit? In my mother's case, she tried for years, and my Father quite for 18 years, only to start again. Only 5 1/2 years after restarting he died of lung cancer!
INTERESTINGLY, Did you know, in a remote part of the world, in a dense rain forest, where "tribes who do smoke" freely & EASILY quit twice a year, because they use the tobacco to make other products important to their survival. THIS IS ENTIRE WHOLE SOCIETIES that quit easily, and don't have artificially high amounts of nicotine, the substance that makes it very difficult to quit! They do so because all those executives didn't cheat smokers and keep them from having, at least an honest chance. WORSE, they lied, for 18 years after this what brought out! In that time, over 1.78 million more Americans, (alone) died directly from lung cancer, & emphysema, contributed "to smoking" on their death certificates. What was the REAL number?
Tim, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Just think how very much more "vibrant" & "culturally rich of a society", "how more meaningful our life’s" would be, with older wiser, family members ALIVE to enjoy JUST our grandchildren?
Now rethink what you just said, do you have just a hint of a different perspective? At one time we thought the world was flat too. Don’t beat yourself up, instead, research, read, and help educate your loved ones, while YOU STILL CAN!
We can be so naïve, and down right stupid, huh?
Now the real issue is simply this: BIG TOBACCO KNEW WHAT nicotine did, and they searched for every possible way, to GET you hooked and KEEP YOU HOOKED, regardless the outcome! All in the name of the mighty BUCK! This is our life's greatest tragedy, not terrorism! This is self inflicted terrorism at the hands of a few executives of BIG TOBACCO!
Posted by: Jim on May 14, 2004 08:28 PM