Tobacco companies such as Philip Morris, a Altria Group Inc. (MO) unit, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, a Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) unit, Lorillard Tobacco Co., a unit of Loews Corporation-Carolina Group (CG), have suffered a huge blow with the announcement by a federal judge granting class action status to tens of millions of "light cigarette" smokers.
The lawsuit could potentially reach $200 billion against cigarette makers and charges that tobacco companies duped smokers by the use of "light" labeling and their response to consumer's mounting health concerns with deceptive ad campaigns designed to preserve revenue as reported in this WashingtonPost.com article.
Two of the Web sites above have been shut down in the wake of this decision and the two largest, Philip Morris USA Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. say they plan to appeal.
The judge's decision drove tobacco stock prices lower despite the fact that Philip Morris believes the ruling runs counter to federal and state case law regarding class actions. They called for the ruling to be reversed.
Know More about deceptive advertising at AdHurl.com.
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