Consumers who bought Marlboro Lights cigarettes in Arkansas over a 32-year period are eligible for reimbursement of at least 10 cents per purchased pack as their share of a $45 million settlement granted preliminary approval Tuesday by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox.
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Lawyers representing Arkansas smokers who claimed the Marlboro Lights and Ultra-Lights cigarettes were deceptively advertised reached an agreement with Marlboro manufacturer Philip Morris USA to settle the class-action lawsuit with no admission of wrongdoing by the company.
The settlement was reached in July after Fox ordered the parties to attempt mediation before having a Pulaski County jury resolve their differences. That trial had been scheduled to last six weeks.
Arkansas is the only state to reach such a class-action settlement with the company, the plaintiffs lawyers say.
"We have accomplished something nobody else has with the tobacco industry," Little Rock attorney Tom Thrash said. "We feel really good about it."
The Arkansas litigation is 13 years old and one of 14 such lawsuits nationwide that Philip Morris, a subsidiary of Virginia-based Altria Group, has been battling for years. The tobacco company won several of those suits; in others it was forced to pay minimal damages far below what plaintiffs had asked for.
The Arkansas lawsuit had sought at least a full refund on each pack of cigarettes sold during the 32-year period.
The first step in paying out the settlement began Tuesday when Fox approved the attorneys' plans for a monthlong media campaign to notify potential beneficiaries that will begin by Sept. 1. The campaign will include advertising in a magazine of national circulation, English and Spanish newspapers, radio and a variety of Internet sites.
The payout arrangement will not be finalized until a Nov. 21 hearing before Fox so the judge can review the settlement and determine whether it is fair.
Thrash said claimants can expect to receive payment in February 2017. There's no telling how many consumers are eligible or how many will apply for reimbursement, he said.
Eligible consumers purchased the Lights or Ultra-Lights brands between Nov. 1, 1971, when Lights were first introduced, and May 29, 2003, the date when the final version of the lawsuit was filed. Reimbursement would be based on when the cigarettes were purchased.
Consumers will be paid 10 cents per pack bought over 27 years from Nov. 1, 1971, to April 17, 1998, and the five years between April 19, 1993, and April 17, 1998.
Consumers will be eligible for the 25 cents-per-pack rate for cigarettes bought over a five-year period between April 18, 1998, and April 18, 2003, a time frame that reflects the five-year statute of limitations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the law on which the litigation was based.
Applications for compensation are due by Dec. 1 or must be postmarked by that date. No receipts are required.
Claims forms will be available through a website, marlborolightsclass.com, by the end of the month, Thrash said.
Proof of purchase will be a sworn statement affirming the applicant's average daily cigarette purchase per year for personal use, along with the name, address and telephone number of a verifying witness.
Applicants must also submit the names and locations of three retailers where the Lights or Ultra-Lights cigarettes were bought.
The claims process will be administered by two court-appointed masters who will have the authority to evaluate applications and conduct inquiries into the ones they find questionable. Fox named attorney Allison Allred and accountant Angie Hopkins, both of Little Rock, as masters at the recommendation of the plaintiffs.
The $45 million has to pay for everything, including attorneys fees and costs of the litigation, the expenses of administering the payout program, including the two claims-review masters, and an award to the two lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Walter Miner and James Easley.
That plaintiffs' award and the amount of attorneys fees will be decided by the judge at a hearing yet to be scheduled. Fox will receive a recommendation on how much those payments should be from attorney James Tilley, who mediated the settlement.
Fifteen attorneys from seven law firms in four states -- Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi and Texas -- worked on the case, court filings show. Three other Little Rock lawyers from two law firms, Thrash Law Firm and Carney, Williams, Bates, Pulliam & Bowman participated: Hank Bates, Marcus Bozeman and Randy Pulliam.
The litigation did not involve health claims or injuries that could be attributed to smoking. Plaintiffs in the suit had accused the cigarette company of running a misleading advertising campaign that deliberately duped consumers into believing the Lights brand was safer and subjected them to lower levels of tar and nicotine than regular cigarettes.
Claimants who object to the settlement can opt out of the agreement by doing so in writing by Nov. 1.
If enough decline to participate, Phillip Morris has the option to discontinue the arrangement, court filings show. How many must withdraw from the settlement for the company to exercise its option to cancel is the subject of a secondary agreement by the parties and won't be disclosed until after the Nov. 1 deadline has passed.
Company officials disputed claims of deliberate deception and wrongdoing, arguing that Lights did what they were advertised to do -- deliver less tar and nicotine -- if they were smoked correctly. The Lights filters were specially ventilated to reduce tar and nicotine, but smokers could get more by inhaling more deeply or more often, the company stated. Smokers who used the cigarettes as they were designed got the promised benefit of reduced tar and nicotine, it said.
The cigarettes were re-branded as Marlboro Silver and Marlboro Gold in 2010 after federal regulators barred makers from advertising them as light or mild.
A Section on 08/17/2016