Appellate Court: Erroneous Jury Instructions Call for New Trial Against Tobacco Companies
“The purpose of anchoring liability to the point in time when the defective product is sold or distributed is to give manufacturers an incentive to create safer products. … Were we to adopt the defendants’ view that liability should attach only up until the point in time a smoker becomes addicted to cigarettes, that incentive would be severely diminished, or even eliminated,” the Massachusetts Court of Appeals ruled.