Court Rejects ‘Personal Choice Defense’ in Suit
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From the Associated Press
Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court rejected the tobacco industry’s “personal choice defense,” its most successful argument in wrongful death lawsuits, ruling that the companies cannot shield themselves from liability simply by claiming that smokers should know cigarettes are dangerous.
The ruling reinstated a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Philip Morris USA by Brenda Haglund, whose husband died of lung cancer in May 2000.
The lawsuit had been dismissed by a lower court judge.
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