Are there are any “tort reform” proposals that would impact the tobacco litigation?
Daynard:: There are a whole bunch of them, A lot of them are very technical — non-lawyers, and even many lawyers, don’t know where the body is buried. One type of proposal, for example, provides that you can’t file a lawsuit based on a widely known danger from a commonly used product. The industry uses these things basically as total door-closing statutes to keep the cases from proceeding, regardless of the possible demonstration of fraudulent behavior. MM: To what extent have plaintiffs from other countries, or other countries themselves, been able to sue in U.S. courts? Daynard:: Basically, they can’t sue in U.S. courts. They tried, and they failed. U.S. courts are quite hostile to permitting either other governments or plaintiffs from other countries to sue; occasionally, they are permitted, but never yet in a tobacco case. There is one case still pending in New York brought by the European Commission and some European countries against R.J. Reynolds for conducting a smuggling and m
