An Illinois appellate court has reinstated a decade-old $10.1 billion verdict in a class-action lawsuit against Phillip Morris USA that found the nation’s biggest cigarette maker misled customers about “light” and “low tar” designations.
Philip Morris swiftly decried Tuesday’s ruling by a three-judge panel of the Mount Vernon-based 5th District Appellate Court, saying it would ask the Illinois Supreme Court to review the matter. As that takes place, Philip Morris said, the latest decision is automatically stayed.
