Tobacco

PHAI President Richard Daynard Explains the Importance of Punitive Damages Awards in The Hill

Northeastern University Distinguished Professor of Law and President of the Public Health Advocacy Institute, Richard Daynard, published an op-ed in The Hill on December 6, 2022 laying out the importance of punitive damages in civil justice to protect public health. The article references a billion dollar punitive damages verdict in a Massachusetts tobacco case from […]

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PHAI’s Gottlieb Discusses Recent Juul Settlement

On September 6, 2022, attorneys general from 33 states announced a tentative settlement of their joint investigation of the company involving cash payments to the states of $438.5 million over several years. PHAI’s executive director, Mark Gottlieb, discussed the settlement on NBC News NOW the following morning. That short interview can be seen here.

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PHAI’s Center for Public Health Litigation Launches Ad Campaign Seeking Cigarette Industry Victims

The Center for Public Health Litigation, a project of the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law, has launched an advertising campaign in Massachusetts to help inform victims of cigarette companies of their legal rights.   While Massachusetts is the best state in the nation to hold cigarette makers responsible in court for

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PHAI urges FDA to prohibit the sale and distribution of menthol cigarettes

On July 24, 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking comments from the public and other stakeholders on the potential regulation of menthol in cigarettes.   Gottlieb and Daynard from PHAI submitted comments today on Docket No. FDA-2013-N-0521 calling on the Secretary of Health and Human Services to

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PHAI researchers co-author article in AJPH describing how health advocates battling the food and beverage industry can learn by looking back at the smoking and health crisis of the late 1950s and early 60s

Richard Daynard, Lissy Friedman, and Mark Gottlieb have co-authored an article published today in the American Journal of Public Health, along with our research partners from Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG). The article is entitled: “Cigarettes Become a Dangerous Product: Tobacco in the Rearview Mirror, 1952–1965.” BMSG’s press release appears below: Nutrition advocates may be able

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Lorillard Inc., v. United States Food and Drug Administration, No. 11-440

On February 21, 2011, Lorillard Tobacco Company and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company filed a complaint[1] against the FDA in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the composition of the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (“TPSAC”) and alleging that TPSAC failed to comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (“FACA”). TPSAC

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Disc. Tobacco City & Lottery, Inc. v. United States

In August, 2009,  tobacco manufacturers and sellers[1]  brought suit[2] in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky against the FDA, challenging provisions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (“Tobacco Act”). In a case previously known as Commonwealth Brands, Inc v. United States, plaintiffs challenged the following requirements as

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Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that all cigarettes sold in Massachusetts are defective

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Edward L. Sweda, Jr. or  Mark Gottlieb 617-373-8462 or 617-373-2026  2010 Verdict Reflected Juror Outrage at Handouts of Free Cigarettes to Children.   The SJC today unanimously rejected Lorillard Tobacco Co.’s attempt to evade liability in a case brought by Willie Evans, whose mother Marie died in 2002 at the age of

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2013 Altria Group, Inc. Annual Shareholders Meeting: Politely conducting business as usual

By Edward L. Sweda, J.D. In sharp contrast to the manner in which management at Reynolds American, Inc. conducted its annual meeting of shareholders a week earlier,  Altria Group, Inc.’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Martin J. Barrington treated everyone at the May 16th meeting in Richmond, Virginia with courtesy and politeness. Barrington began his presentation

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