According to a report by Forbes, U.S. district judge John A. Woodcock last week said it would be impossible for plaintiff lawyers to prove that millions of consumers actually bought the “light” cigarettes from Philip Morris, let alone show they believed the company’s ads. Woodcock based his decision on Article III of the constitution, which the supreme court has interpreted to mean that plaintiffs in a federal court must have suffered “an injury in fact,” not the hypothetical injury of having absorbed misleading advertising they may or may not have believed.
Judges in 11 of 13 other cases have rejected similar attempts to put together a class that would almost certainly force cigarette makers into a multibillion-dollar settlement. (pi)