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Non-Tech : Philip Morris - A Stock For Wealth Or Poverty (MO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: S. M. SAIFEE who wrote (5013)	11/3/1999 2:39:00 PM
From: Gary Korn	Respond to of 6439

From the YHOO board: News by: ramcc54 (45/M/Everett, WA) 11/3/1999 2:35 pm EST Msg: 44444 of 44444 Florida Supreme Court to Review Tobacco Lump-Sum Damage Ruling Tallahassee, Florida, Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Florida's highest court said it might consider blocking a lump-sum damage award that could exceed $100 billion in a smokers' class-action suit against Philip Morris Cos. and other tobacco makers. Reports of the unexpected state court action sent shares of tobacco stocks higher. Philip Morris, maker of the top-selling Marlboro cigarettes, rose 1 13/16 to 25 23/16 in mid-afternoon trading after touching 26 3/8. Shares of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. rose 1 7/16 to 21 1/2. Florida's highest court ordered lawyers for the smokers suing the industry to respond to the companies' appeal, filed last week, to block a lump-sum award. The court said it will allow the current damages phase of the case to continue in a Miami courtroom as it awaits the plaintiffs' response. The jury in July found the industry liable for causing death and disease among smokers. A Florida appeals court briefly overturned Judge Robert Kaye's decision to permit a lump-sum award rather than smoker by smoker, a ruling that analysts said could bankrupt some companies. The appeals court reversed itself on Oct. 20, and, on Friday, the industry turned to the state's highest court for help. The class of plaintiffs represented by the suit could include as many as 500,000 Florida smokers that analysts said could lead to hundreds of billions of dollars in damages against the industry. Analysts have said it is unlikely the state Supreme Court would block a lump sum award while the trial is in progress. The high court review at this juncture is a ``well put- together longshot,' analyst Marc Cohen at Goldman, Sachs & Co. said earlier today in a research report. That the companies are attempting now to have it hear their appeal shows that ``tobacco lawyers are leaving no stone unturned,' he said. A gag order bars lawyers in the case from commenting. Defendants include Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Loews Corp.'s Lorillard Tobacco, British American Tobacco Plc's Brown & Williamson, Brooke Group Ltd., and two industry trade groups. Nov/03/1999 14:22 For more stories from Bloomberg News, click here. (C) Copyright 1999 Bloomberg L.P.