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

To: Jim Oravetz who wrote (6407)	8/18/2005 12:45:51 PM
From: Jim Oravetz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6439

Missouri Court Clears Altria Suit As Class Action By CHRISTINA CHEDDAR BERK DOW JONES NEWSWIRES August 18, 2005; Page D4 NEW YORK -- A Missouri appeals court upheld a lower-court decision granting class-action status to a suit that accuses Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA unit of misleading smokers about the health risks of light cigarettes. The decision in the case, brought by Dayna Craft, was handed down late Tuesday by the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District. The appellate court backed an earlier decision to limit the class eligibility to Missouri residents who purchased and smoked Marlboro Lights cigarettes during an eight-year period. Philip Morris said it plans to ask the Missouri Supreme Court to review the decision. The company has argued in the past that there are too many individual issues among smokers to lump them together. "The company believes the law doesn't allow cases like this to be treated as a class action," William Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris USA's associate general counsel, said in a statement. The Craft case is similar to a case known as Price pending before the Illinois Supreme Court. The plaintiffs in both cases are represented by attorney Stephen Tillery. Mr. Tillery wasn't immediately available for comment. George Zelcs, an attorney at the law firm Korein Tillery, said the appellate-court decision shows it is appropriate to try this type of case as a class action. In the Price case, a Madison County Circuit Court awarded $10.1 billion to Illinois smokers who sued under the state's consumer-protection law, saying they were tricked by Philip Morris into believing light cigarettes had fewer health risks than regular cigarettes. Write to Christina Cheddar Berk at christina.cheddar@dowjones.com