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Philip Morris pays more than $2 million to settle suit
Fort Worth (Texas), Oct 03: Philip Morris USA has agreed to pay more than $2 million in the case of a toddler severely burned in a fire blamed on a cigarette left in a car - the first time America`s No. 1 tobacco company has ever settled a personal injury suit.
Fort Worth (Texas), Oct 03: Philip Morris USA has agreed to pay more than $2 million in the case of a toddler severely burned in a fire blamed on a cigarette left in a car - the first time America's No. 1 tobacco company has ever settled a personal injury suit.
The settlement was reached in May and was first reported this week by a Los Angeles-based daily.
Shannon Moore, now 13, was 21 months old at the time of the blaze 11 years ago. She was asleep in her car seat when her mother got out for a quick stop at her grandparents' Fort Worth house and left a lit cigarette between the car's two front seats. After about 10 minutes the car was in flames, searing her face, ears, torso and hands- more than three-fourths of her small body. Philip Morris argued that the fire was started by a faulty cigarette lighter but that the child's mother ultimately was to blame, Lynn A. Grisham, the girl's lawyer, said yesterday.
Philip Morris has a history of fighting lawsuits vigorously but settled this case because it was ``unique, isolated and not likely to be replicated,'' said John Sorrells, a spokesman for Altria Group Inc., the parent of Philip Morris USA. Since the settlement, Philip Morris and three of its rivals agreed last month to pay a total of just $800 - $200 each- to resolve a flight attendant's claim of injury from secondhand smoke, Sorrells said. Bureau Report
Shannon Moore, now 13, was 21 months old at the time of the blaze 11 years ago. She was asleep in her car seat when her mother got out for a quick stop at her grandparents' Fort Worth house and left a lit cigarette between the car's two front seats. After about 10 minutes the car was in flames, searing her face, ears, torso and hands- more than three-fourths of her small body. Philip Morris argued that the fire was started by a faulty cigarette lighter but that the child's mother ultimately was to blame, Lynn A. Grisham, the girl's lawyer, said yesterday.
Philip Morris has a history of fighting lawsuits vigorously but settled this case because it was ``unique, isolated and not likely to be replicated,'' said John Sorrells, a spokesman for Altria Group Inc., the parent of Philip Morris USA. Since the settlement, Philip Morris and three of its rivals agreed last month to pay a total of just $800 - $200 each- to resolve a flight attendant's claim of injury from secondhand smoke, Sorrells said. Bureau Report