A US federal judge has granted class action status to tens of millions of "light cigarette" smokers for a potential $200 billion lawsuit against tobacco companies.
US District Judge Jack Weinstein in Brooklyn made the ruling on a 2004 lawsuit that alleges Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard Tobacco, and other defendants duped smokers.
The action is open to anyone who purchased cigarettes that were labelled "light" or "lights" after they were put on the market, beginning in the early 1970s. The judge set a trial date of January 22nd, 2007.
"Critical to plaintiffs' case is certification as a class action," Weinstein wrote. "No other method of aggregation of tens of millions of smokers' claims is practicable. The small amount of possible recovery for each smoker could not justify the expensive and time-consuming pretrial and trial procedures required."
The judge also said he would "entertain a motion to extend the class . . . to encompass smokers of all 'low tar' brands rather than 'lights' alone".
A lawyer arguing for the class action status argued last week that the manufacturers hoped to "move markets" with a cynical marketing strategy promoting light cigarettes as a lower-risk alternative to regular cigarettes, even though their own internal documents showed they knew the risks were about the same.