Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Bullock v. Phillip Morris (Cal. Ct. App. - August 17, 2011)

It used to be that Big Tobacco eventually prevailed on all the lawsuits filed against it.  Those days have passed.

It might take you, as here, over a decade of litigation.  You may well, as here, die in the meantime.  But when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive . . . prejudgment interest.  At the statutory 10% rate.

Assuming, of course, that the California Supreme Court doesn't step in.  It's a punitives multiple of 16 times.  So there's a plausible claim.  But my money's on the Bullock estate eventually getting its cash.