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

To: Rarebird who wrote (1927)	7/14/1998 10:24:00 PM
From: Ian@SI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6439

Now here's a press release I like. If only CYMI and CUBE would learn from MO's Corporate Communications office. :-) Tuesday July 14, 6:47 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Philip Morris Management Corp. Maryland Court Throws Out Health Care Fund Case Extending Nationwide String of Victories for Tobacco Cos. NEW YORK, July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Perpetuating an increasing trend in state and federal courts, a Maryland federal court yesterday dismissed with prejudice all claims in a union health care fund lawsuit against the tobacco industry. The Seafarers Welfare Plan had sought reimbursement for costs to its health care fund attributable to the alleged smoking-related illnesses of its members. U.S. District Court Judge Marvin J. Garbis issued a 33-page ruling throwing out the claims just weeks after judges in Pennsylvania, California and Florida dismissed similar cases. ''Courts all over the nation are reaching the same conclusion in these cases. The rule of the law does not change because the defendant is politically unpopular,'' said Steven B. Rissman, senior counsel for Philip Morris. In an opinion similar to previous cases, Judge Garbis found that the health fund sustained no damages and the claims were too remote because they arose from alleged injuries to smokers, and not the health fund. ''In this court's view, the plaintiffs' entire complaint suffers from the fundamental flaw that the funds themselves ... have not suffered any cognizable damages,'' Judge Garbis wrote. With more decisions on reimbursement cases pending, Rissman believes other courts will reach the same conclusion. ''We feel confident that courts will extend the trend of dismissing these cases on long-standing rules of law,'' said Rissman. SOURCE: Philip Morris Management Corp.