512
Opinion of the Court
The court did not, however, identify the specific claims asserted by petitioner that were pre-empted by the Act.
This Court denied a petition for certiorari, 479 U. S. 1043 (1987), and the case returned to the District Court for trial. Complying with the Court of Appeals' mandate, the District Court held that the failure-to-warn, express-warranty, fraudulent-misrepresentation, and conspiracy-to-defraud claims were barred to the extent that they relied on respondents' advertising, promotional, and public relations activities after January 1, 1966 (the effective date of the 1965 Act). 649 F. Supp. 664, 669, 673-675 (NJ 1986). The court also ruled that while the design defect claims were not pre-empted by federal law, those claims were barred on other grounds.6 Id., at 669-672. Following extensive discovery and a 4-month trial, the jury answered a series of special interrogatories and awarded $400,000 in damages to Rose Cipollone's husband. In brief, it rejected all of the fraudulent-misrepresentation and conspiracy claims, but found that respondent Liggett had breached its duty to warn and its express warranties before 1966. It found, however, that Rose Cipollone had " 'voluntarily and unreasonably encounter[ed] a known danger by smoking cigarettes' " and that 80% of the responsibility for her injuries was attributable to her. See 893 F. 2d, at 554 (summarizing jury findings). For that reason, no damages were awarded to her estate. However, the jury awarded damages to compensate her husband for losses caused by respondents' breach of express warranty.
On cross-appeals from the final judgment, the Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court's pre-emption rulings but remanded for a new trial on several issues not relevant to our decision. We granted the petition for certiorari to consider the pre-emptive effect of the federal statutes.
6 We are not presented with any question concerning these claims.
Page: Index Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007