Statement by Edward Sweda, Jr - Virginia Statehouse Capitol, April 23, 2003

STATEMENT BY EDWARD SWEDA, JR
Senior Attorney, Tobacco Products Liability Project
Northeastern University School of Law
Virginia Statehouse Capitol
April 23, 2003

I am Edward L. Sweda, Jr, Senior Attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston. Our organization encourages the use of litigation against tobacco companies as a way of improving public health and of holding tobacco companies accountable for their actions.

Corporations and the products and services they provide can help improve human life. Led by those who seek to maximize profits at the expense of human lives, however, corporations can be a destructive force in society. When that happens, there must be a way to restrain the impulses of these rogue corporations.

It is both ironic and appropriate that today we assemble here in Richmond, across from the State Capitol, to sound the alarm about a rogue industry that is literally Licensed to Kill hundreds of thousands of Americans each year, as well as millions of people across the globe.

Let me share with you a vivid and eloquent description of the largest of these corporations, Philip Morris -- a rogue corporation that has been welcomed with open arms, and taxpayers' wallets, by the political forces in this state. This description comes not from an anti-tobacco activist, but from a state judge in Illinois, Nicholas G. Byron.

In the case of Price v. Philip Morris, Incorporated, Judge Byron issued a ruling on March 21, 2003 assessing $10.1 billion against Philip Morris because of its outrageous conduct in perpetrating a scam involving its so-called "light" cigarettes. Judge Byron ruled: "The Court finds that based upon Philip Morris' course of conduct with respect to the representations of 'Lowered Tar and Nicotine' and 'Lights' that Philip Morris' practices offend public policy, are immoral, unethical, oppressive and unscrupulous and that this course of conduct caused a substantial injury to the Class members in this case." The judge went on to state, "the course of conduct by Philip Morris related to its fraud in this case is outrageous, both because Philip Morris' motive was evil and the acts showed a reckless disregard for the consumers' rights."

Litigation against tobacco companies will continue, both in the United States and around the world, to hold rogue tobacco corporations accountable for their wrongdoing. Thank you.