A St. Louis jury on Tuesday failed to return a verdict in a class action case against Philip Morris USA over whether smokers were deceived into believing "light" and low-tar cigarettes reduced health hazards.
As a result, St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael David declared a mistrial in the $700 million lawsuit against the
cigarette maker.
"After 11 years of pre-trial proceedings and a month and a half of testimony, today's mistrial shows that the plaintiffs failed to convince a jury of their claims," Murray Garnick, Altria Client Services senior vice president and associate general counsel, speaking on behalf of Philip Morris, said in a statement Tuesday.
"We continue to believe that these claims are baseless and today's mistrial shows that we have powerful defenses in these 'lights' cases."
