From the Associated Press

Philip Morris Appeals $10.1B Verdict
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By Associated Press
December 10, 2003

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Philip Morris USA, ordered to pay $10.1 billion for tricking Illinois smokers into believing light cigarettes are less harmful than regular ones, appealed the verdict to the Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Philip Morris claims the trial court never should have granted class-action status to the case, which led to the first consumer-fraud trial in the nation to focus on light cigarettes.
The company says it obeyed federal law when it labeled its cigarettes with the Surgeon General's warning against tobacco products, and charges the $10.1 billion verdict was arbitrary and excessive.
"We've presented a very compelling argument about why this judgment should be set aside," William Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris' vice president and associate general counsel, said Wednesday.
Madison County Judge Nicholas Byron ruled in March that Philip Morris violated the state's consumer fraud law in the way it marketed its Marlboro Lights and Cambridge Lights brands.
A spokeswoman for plaintiffs' attorney Stephen Tillery, who won the March lawsuit on behalf of 1 million Illinois smokers, said the appeal was expected.
"There's nothing in this brief that provides any new legal or factual basis for changing any of the trial court's findings," spokeswoman Joy Howell said. "There are no surprises and no new legal analysis."
Ohlemeyer said he expects oral arguments and a decision to come by the end of next year.
Copyright (c) 2003, The Associated Press