Copyright MassLive
SPRINGFIELD — Less than a year after a Hampden Superior Court judge awarded a family who lost a loved one to lung cancer a whopping $105 million in damages, a city man brings a similar lawsuit against Big Tobacco in federal court. Juan Cotto, 56, first sued in state court in late August. The $5 million lawsuit was removed to federal court on Nov. 10. The complaint says Cotto was in 2022 diagnosed with stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer after being a cigarette smoker since he was 15 — more than 40 years. Named are R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Philip Morris USA Inc., Liggett Group LLC, Cumberland Farms of Massachusetts LLC and Walgreens of Massachusetts Inc. The lawsuit — like hundreds of thousands before it — argues the tobacco giants, and retailers, ultimately conspired to market and distribute cigarettes when they’ve known the health risks for decades. In particular, the complaint said the Big Tobacco manufacturers deliberately deceived consumers despite knowing the true risks associated with smoking since at least the 1950s. The lawsuit samples statements made through the years by former company executives. They include, according to the complaint: — “A December 16, 1957 press release from TIRC falsely stating that ‘no substance has been found in tobacco smoke known to cause cancer in human beings,’” one allegation reads. — “An internal memorandum dated January 29, 1964 from George Weissman (Vice President of Philip Morris) to Joseph Cullman II (President of Philip Morris and on the executive committee of the Tobacco Institute) — regarding the ‘Surgeon General’s Report’ wherein it states ‘we must in the near future provide some answers which will give smokers a psychological crutch and a self-rationale to continue smoking,’” another says. — “A 1976 interview of Helmut Wakeham, Vice President of Science and Technology at Philip Morris, wherein he stated ‘If the company, as a whole, believed that cigarettes were really harmful, we would not be in the business. We are a very moralistic company. I think the management of Philip Morris is sincere in this position. I think there is a great deal of doubt as to whether or not cigarettes are harmful.’” reads a third. The lawsuit alleges defective design, negligence, fraud and civil conspiracy. In January, now-retired Judge Edward McDonough Jr. awarded more than $100 million to a Walpole family whose relative died of lung cancer as a direct result of smoking. Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued nicotine is so addictive, longtime smokers are nearly powerless to quit. “She tried over and over and over to quit,” plaintiffs’ attorney Gary Paige told jurors of the late Jacqueline Penza during a monthlong trial that launched on Oct. 1, 2024. She died of lung cancer at 59. “She tried New Year’s resolutions, lozenges, nicotine patches ... Her family says they’d find her going through dirty ashtrays to find a cigarette with enough tobacco to smoke.” Lawyers for Big Tobacco countered that consumers are far more educated about the risks associated with smoking, and longtime smokers quit every day. The defendants in Cotto’s case have yet to respond to the federal lawsuit.
