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State of Minnesota et al. v. Philip Morris et al.

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Button produced by the Minnesota Smoke-Free Coalition

"Save Kids, Not Tobacco" button produced by the Minnesota Smoke-Free Coalition, ca. 1995–2009.

The State of Minnesota and the health insurance federation Blue Cross and Blue Shield brought a lawsuit against tobacco companies in 1994. The suit—State of Minnesota et al. v. Philip Morris et al.—ended the companies’ chain of legal victories and turned the tide in anti-tobacco efforts throughout the nation.

Tobacco has been an important commercial crop in the United States since the 1600s. Its use grew after the late 1800s, when machine-manufactured cigarettes became available. By 1901, 3.5 billion cigarettes were sold each year in the United States.

Starting in 1950, medical researchers published studies that raised health concerns about tobacco—particularly its effects on the lungs. Information about the danger of tobacco use continued to grow and reached a peak with the 1964 publication of Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States. The report announced two major findings. First, it concluded that cigarette smokers faced higher death rates and lung-cancer rates than non-smokers. Second, it linked cigarette smoking to illnesses such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and heart disease.

The report confirmed that tobacco companies sold a dangerous product and people were dying from it; by the 1990s, it was clear that the tobacco companies knew this. To win lawsuits against tobacco manufacturers, however, plaintiffs had to prove that the person injured or killed had smoked cigarettes, had seen tobacco advertisements suggesting that smoking was healthy, and had contracted his disease from tobacco use. Such proof required expert witnesses and other legal resources. While the tobacco companies had the money to fight these battles, the smokers themselves were often sick or dying and generally not wealthy. The litigation process compensated a few plaintiffs but did not stop the marketing of tobacco as healthy or prevent new young smokers from becoming addicted.

It was at this point that the State of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield (a major health insurance company) came up with a new approach. In a lawsuit filed on their behalf by the Minneapolis law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi in 1994, the state and Blue Cross argued that the marketing and sale of tobacco products had harmed them as well as the persons made ill. The state claimed that the tobacco companies’ false advertising had violated consumer protection laws. Blue Cross, which insured nearly 2 million people in Minnesota, claimed that the sale of a dangerous product was making its customers ill. As a result, it argued, these customers were filing more insurance claims. If insurance companies did not raise customers’ premiums in response, they were effectively footing the bill for smoking-related diseases.

For their long-term anti-tobacco strategy to succeed, the state of Minnesota and Blue Cross needed to collaborate. The state could seek to bar some advertising and force the companies to reform their business practices. Blue Cross could use its claims of lost revenue to pressure them to settle quickly. In response, the companies attacked Blue Cross’s right to sue, arguing, among other things, that Blue Cross did not lose money from the tobacco-related claims because it simply raised premiums to cover its rising costs.

In July of 1996 the Supreme Court of Minnesota found that Blue Cross did have the right to sue; in fact, it had been injured as soon as it paid a claim. The possibility of making up that loss in the future did not cancel out the injury.

The court’s ruling forced the companies to seek to resolve the case. In May of 1998, they agreed to pay the state $240 million a year for twenty-five years; to pay Blue Cross $469 million; and to make significant changes in their marketing and advertising programs. The state of Minnesota used large parts of those payments to fund anti-tobacco efforts and health care for tobacco users—programs that have lasted into the 2010s.

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Belluck, Pam. “Tobacco Companies Settle a Suit with Minnesota for $6.5 Billion.” New York Times, May 9, 1998.
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/09/us/tobacco-companies-settle-a-suit-with-minnesota-for-6.5-billion.html

Boston University Medical System. History of Tobacco.
http://academic.udayton.edu/health/syllabi/tobacco/history.htm#begin

Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc., 683 F. Supp. 1487, 1492-3 (DCNJ, 1988).
https://www.leagle.com/decision/19882170683fsupp148711921

Doll, Richard, and A. Bradford Hill. “Smoking and Carcinoma of the Lung.” British Medical Journal (September 30, 1950): 739–748.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2038856/?page=1

Google Patents. Cigarette machine (US672348A).
https://patents.google.com/patent/US672348A/

Minnesota Department of Health. Tobacco Use.
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/hpcd/tpc/index.html

Public Health Law Center. Settlement Agreement, State of Minnesota et al. vs. Philip Morris et al.
http://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/sites/default/files/resources/mn-settlement-agreement.pdf

State of Minnesota et al. v. Philip Morris et al., 551 NW 2d 490 (S. Ct. Minn. 1996).
https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/files/live/litigation/385/US_State%20of%20Minnesota%20v.%20Philip%20M.pdf

Swedish Medical Center. History of Tobacco Use in America.
https://www.swedish.org/classes-and-resources/smoking-cessation/history-of-tobacco-use-in-america

US Department of Health, Smoking, and Welfare. Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service.
https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/access/NNBBMQ.pdf

Related Images

Button produced by the Minnesota Smoke-Free Coalition
Button produced by the Minnesota Smoke-Free Coalition
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Tobacco consumption in the United States, 1900–1995
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Anti-smoking bumper sticker produced by the Community Prevention Coalition of Hennepin County
Anti-smoking bumper sticker produced by the Community Prevention Coalition of Hennepin County
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Button produced by the Minnesota Smoke-Free Coalition
Button produced by the Minnesota Smoke-Free Coalition

Turning Point

In 1996, the Supreme Court of Minnesota rules that Blue Cross-Blue Shield can seek money damages from tobacco companies for the injuries suffered by its customers.

Chronology

1609

John Rolfe of Jamestown, Virginia, harvests the first commercial tobacco crop in the American colonies.

1881

J. A. Bonsack patents the cigarette-rolling machine.

1929

Fritz Lickint of Dresden, Germany, publishes a formal statistical evidence of a lung cancer-tobacco link, based on a study showing that lung cancer sufferers are likely to be smokers.

1950

The British Medical Journal publishes an article titled "Smoking and Carcinoma of the Lung." It concludes that people smoking twenty-five or more cigarettes per day are fifty times more likely to get lung cancer than non-smokers.

1964

The Surgeon General of the United States releases Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States, which links smoking with lung cancer and other diseases.

1983

Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc. is filed. It is the first serious effort to hold tobacco companies liable for the health effects of smoking.

1988

Antonio Cipollone, the widower of the plaintiff in Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc., is awarded $400,000 by a jury in New Jersey.

1990

The Cipollone verdict is overturned on appeal on the theory that federal law bars such a suit.

1992

After reviewing the Cipollone case, the Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal law does not bar suits against tobacco companies and orders a new trial. Cipollone has long since died, and the family chooses not to retry the case.

1994

The State of Minnesota and Blue Cross-Blue Shield file State of Minnesota et al. v. Philip Morris et al., a lawsuit against several tobacco companies.

1994

The Attorney General of Mississippi proposes a national agreement to settle all tobacco litigation. More than forty states join his effort.

1996

The Supreme Court of Minnesota rules that the state and the insurers in State of Minnesota et al. v. Philip Morris et al. have the right to sue to recover losses.

1998

The tobacco companies agree to pay Minnesota and Blue Cross-Blue Shield $6.5 billion dollars in total.

1998

The tobacco companies agree to pay $206 billion to resolve the Mississippi litigation.