Espinosa v. Philip Morris

Summary

In this Engle progeny tobacco litigation proceeding, plaintiff Lewis Espinosa (personal representative of the estate of Maria Espinosa) alleged Philip Morris USA of fraudulent concealment of dangers of smoking cigarettes manufactured by the company, due to which his mother Maria Espinosa got addicted to smoking at a young age. The plaintiff also alleged the company of manufacturing defecting cigarettes, which caused Ms. Espinosa’s death due to throat cancer.

The jury agreed with the plaintiff that Ms. Espinosa was addicted to tobacco, and that her addiction was the legal cause of her smoking-related cancer, and that the cancer manifested early enough for Ms. Espinosa to be a member of the Engle class.

However, the jury found Ms. Espinosa's death was not caused by Philip Morris' negligence or by the defective nature of the cigarettes, and that she did not reasonably rely on any deceptive statement or act by Philip Morris.


The plaintiff was represented by attorney Alex Alvarez. The defendant in this case, Philip Morris USA was represented by attorney Kenneth Reilly.

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Outcome

Verdict for the defense