The US Supreme Court Friday granted certiorari in four cases, including one that will determine if tobacco companies are protected from judgments in state courts on the grounds that cigarettes are federally regulated. The appeal, Watson v. Philip Morris, Cos. (05-1284), was filed by two Arkansas women who found their state court case against Phillip Morris for advertising claims of low tar and nicotine in “light†cigarettes, being removed to federal jurisdiction. Phillip Morris argued that the “unprecedented, detailed, and direct control†exerted by the Federal Trade Commission over cigarette advertising made the company a “person acting under†a federal officer, and convinced the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that removal on those grounds were justified. |
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