Phillip Morris ordered to pay $150M

PORTLAND, OREGON - In the first verdict of its kind in the nation, a jury found that a tobacco company falsely represented low-tar cigarettes as less dangerous than regular cigarettes. <br> <br> Philip Morris was ordered to pay $150 million in punitive damages Friday in a lawsuit filed by the estate of Michele Schwarz, who died of lung cancer in 1999 at age 53 after smoking low-tar Merit cigarettes. The jury awarded the estate $168,000 in compensatory damages. <br> <br> The tobacco company said it would appeal. <br> <br> ``People have been deceived or fooled into thinking that switching to a low-tar cigarette is healthier for them,&#39;&#39; Lawrence Wobbrock, attorney for Schwarz&#39;s estate, said after the verdict. ``Low-tar cigarettes are a fraud. They don&#39;t provide health benefits.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Schwarz, of Salem, Ore., had switched from a regular filtered cigarette because she believed the low-tar version would be better for her health, Wobbrock said. <br> <br> Wobbrock contended in court that Philip Morris marketed the low-tar cigarettes as having fewer health risks. <br> <br> But James L. Dumas, one of the company&#39;s attorneys, said Philip Morris did not market Merits as healthier than regular filtered cigarettes. He said the company advertises them as milder, or feeling less harsh. <br> <br> Wobbrock said smokers were getting the same amount of tar by taking more puffs on their cigarettes and smoking them closer to the butt. <br> <br> Dumas said it was not the company&#39;s fault that smokers figured out how to get around the low-tar design. He also said Schwarz, who worked for many years in the medical office of her husband, a physician, was well aware of the dangers of cigarette smoke. <br> <br> Philip Morris attorney John Philips contended jurors were given ``erroneous instructions&#39;&#39; by the judge, but would not elaborate. He also said that when plaintiffs highlighted portions of documents on an overhead projector, it amounted to ``a guided tour through the documents.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Anti-tobacco groups hailed the verdict. The decision could become a significant factor in other lawsuits where low-tar cigarettes are at issue, said Edward L. Sweda, attorney with the Tobacco Products Liability Project in Boston. <br> <br> ``It proves such a case is winnable in a big way,&#39;&#39; Sweda said. <br> <br> Chuck Tauman, a lawyer for Schwarz&#39; estate, said the verdict would ``echo around the U.S. and the world for its importance.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Martin Feldman, a tobacco analyst with Salomon Smith Barney in New York, said the size of the award ``indicates the tobacco industry still has significant work to do if it is ever to convince West Coast jurors of its defenses.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The trial came three years after another Multnomah County jury ordered Philip Morris to pay $80.5 million to the family of Jesse Williams, a retired janitor who died of lung cancer in 1997. <br> <br> At the time, it was the largest individual smoker verdict in the country. The punitive damages were later reduced to $32 million and the case is pending before the Oregon Court of Appeals. <br> <br> Although tobacco companies win most cigarette lawsuits, they have recently fared poorly in West Coast courts. They lost three large verdicts in California in the past three years, including a $3 billion verdict last summer that was reduced to $100 million. <br> <br> Philip Morris is appealing the reduced award, saying it is still ``excessive.&#39;&#39;