In 1988, in Newark, New Jersey, Rose Cippollone’s family won the first civil suit victory against a tobacco company in United States history.  What the Cippollone family did not realize, however, was that its legal battles were only beginning and that Liggett would fight the verdict to the Supreme Court, and beyond.

The Case

Rose Cippollone was born in New Jersey in 1925 and, like many young people lured by slick tobacco industry advertising, she began smoking at an early age.  Although there were medical studies linking smoking to health problems, they were not widely publicized.  The U.S. Surgeon General did not begin looking into the issue until 1962, and federal laws requiring warning labels were not passed until 1966.  Meanwhile, cigarette companies like Liggett had spent billions of dollars advertising the pleasures of smoking without any mention of the risks.

In 1982, Rose was diagnosed with lung cancer caused by smoking and, in 1983, she sued Liggett, the manufacturer of her favorite brands of cigarettes, Chesterfield and L&M.  Although Rose died in 1984, her family continued with the case and it went to trial in 1988.

During the four-month trial, the Cippollones introduced evidence establishing:

• Not only did the tobacco companies not warn of the risk of smoking but, to the contrary, they suggested that cigarette smoking was safe, harmless and had the support of medical doctors.
• Tobacco company documents showed a sophisticated conspiracy to refute, undermine, neutralize, confuse and mislead the public for the purpose of having people continue and start smoking.
• The tobacco companies challenged all evidence of smoking dangers while conducting no research until the 1950s and then set up a bogus Tobacco Institute Research Committee that was highly publicized as the industry’s good faith effort to search for the truth, but never did any legitimate research.

The Verdict

In the first ever verdict against a tobacco company, the jury found Liggett 20% responsible and Rose 80% responsible for her death and awarded $400,000.

Appeal and Surrender

Unfortunately for the Cippollones, the jury’s verdict was not the end of the case.  Liggett immediately appealed and the case crawled through the appellate courts, ultimately reaching the United State’s Supreme Court docket in 1991.  The central issue on appeal was whether or not federal legislation requiring cigarette warning labels prohibited personal injury lawsuits for failure to warn against the tobacco company.  In 1992, the Supreme Court held that the lawsuit was not prohibited, but that certain evidence was improperly admitted during the first trial which required a new trial.

Back to square one, facing the prospects of another lengthy trial against Liggett, the Cippollone family chose to give up rather than retry the case.  The lesson was that tobacco companies could be beat, but that it would take a very determined plaintiff to get the job done.

Tim is a graduate of Widener University School of Law (J.D.) and the Temple University Beasley School of Law (Master’s Degree in Trial Advocacy). Tim focuses his practice in Personal Injury law, including car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian accidents, slip and falls, dangerous products/products liability cases and medical malpractice. Tim is a partner in the Chester County, PA, law firm of MacElree Harvey and has offices in Kennett Square and West Chester, PA, and Centreville, DE. Tim is the author of numerous publications on Personal Injury law and writes a Blog providing news and information on Personal Injury law at www.macelree.com/traynelaw and is a columnist for The Kennett Paper writing a column titled “Legal Lines.” Tim has also published two books on Personal Injury law: “A Lawyer’s Guide to Purchasing Car Insurance” and “A Lawyer’s Guide to Personal Injury Cases.” In 2007, Tim was named by Main Line Today as one of the area’s Top Personal Injury Litigators. In addition, Tim is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum which recognizes the “Top Trial Lawyers in America,” with membership limited to attorneys who have won million dollar awards and settlements on behalf of their clients.

Tim can be reached by phone at 610-840-0124, by email at trayne@macelree.com or on his Blog at http://www.macelree.com/traynelaw.

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