A St. Louis jury has sided with tobacco giant Philip Morris in a class-action lawsuit that sought about $1.5 billion.
The suit alleged that the company deceived smokers by claiming light cigarettes were safer than regular cigarettes. But the jury sided with the company after deliberating less than an hour Thursday following a month-long trial, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
The verdict marked the second time a St. Louis jury heard the case. A 2011 trial ended with the jury deadlocked 8-4 in favor of the plaintiff. Nine votes are needed for a civil case verdict in Missouri.
The lawsuit, first filed in 2000, covered Missouri smokers who used Marlboro Lights from Feb. 14, 1995, through Dec. 31, 2003. Roughly 700 million packs of Marlboro Light cigarettes were sold in Missouri during that time period. The lead plaintiff was Jefferson County resident Deborah Larsen, who smoked a pack-and-a-half of Marlboro Lights a day from 1979 until quitting in 2002. Read More>
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