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Last Updated: Aug 23rd, 2007 - 11:49:23 |
Ruling in Illinois chokes battle against tobacco giant
Aug 23, 2007, 11:45
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The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday dealt what is likely to be a decisive blow to St. Louis lawyer Stephen Tillery's efforts to resurrect his overturned $10.1 billion win against cigarette maker Philip Morris. The court's 4-2 ruling effectively denies Tillery's argument that the court should reconsider its 2005 decision reversing the 2003 victory Tillery won from Madison County Circuit Judge Nicholas Byron. The court's order ends years of costly, high-profile tobacco litigation. Tillery brought the class action against Philip Morris, claiming that the corporation's marketing of light cigarettes amounted to fraud because smokers weren't getting anything less dangerous than regulars. After a nationally publicized trial, Byron agreed and ordered the record-setting verdict, including $1.8 billion in attorney's fees for Tillery and other lawyers. But two years later on appeal, the state Supreme Court sided with Philip Morris, which argued that it was shielded from the lawsuit because the Federal Trade Commission had specifically authorized marketing of cigarettes as light and low-tar. Tillery asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case but was turned down. Still, this year Tillery returned to Byron saying that new evidence — government filings and an eventual June 11 opinion by the U.S. high court — contradicted the state Supreme Court's ruling. pecifically, the trade commission said it never authorized any marketing scheme. On Tillery's pleading this spring, Byron formally asked the 5th District Appellate Court whether he could even consider the matter further given that the case had been dismissed. In a rare order Wednesday, the state Supreme Court intervened and ordered Byron to give no further consideration to the case. The majority wrote only two paragraphs and offered no debate or discussion of the matter. Tillery said he was flustered; though he still maintains the court was wrong to initially dismiss his case, he conceded that he's not sure if he'll continue this fight. "Frankly, I don't know what to say," Tillery said. "Obviously, we disagree with the court's conclusion. I haven't made up my mind what I'll do next." When asked for comment, Philip Morris officials issued a brief statement saying only that they agreed with the court's decision. Procedurally, Tillery's options are limited. Most cases never last this long after being thrown out by the state high court, turned down by the U.S. Supreme Court and dismissed by the trial judge. Tillery said he will consider filing a petition offering new evidence, but he remains unsure that he'd have any success given the court's ruling Wednesday. And he added that he doesn't know if the court's order can be appealed. The court's majority — Justices Anne Burke, Thomas Fitzgerald, Rita Garman and Lloyd Karmeier — gave no reason for the decision, but dissenter Charles Freeman suggested the court purposefully wanted to avoid revisiting its 2005 opinion overturning the case. Freeman was joined in opposition by Thomas Kilbride. "The court's action today is entirely predictable because it quickly and quietly closes the book on a case that a majority of this court, I am sure, would rather forget," wrote Freeman, who also dissented in 2005. He added that the court's initial opinion had proven embarrassing. Although his case against Philip Morris appears finally dead, Tillery said he is not dissuaded from two similar class actions in Madison County. Both are already filed against cigarette companies Brown & Williamson and R.J. Reynolds.
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