FRANK ADAMO, as Executor of NORMA ROSE, Deceased, et al., Appellants,
v.
BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORPORATION, as Successor in Interest to THE AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY, et al., Respondents, et al., Defendant.
Court of Appeals of the State of New York.https://leagle.com/images/logo.png
Argued November 18, 2008.
Decided December 16, 2008.
Attorney(s) appearing for the Case
Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, Albany (Howard A. Levine, Alan J. Goldberg, Christopher W. Meyer, William S. Nolan and Christopher M. McDonald of counsel), and Finz & Finz, P.C., Jericho (Stuart L. Finz, Jay L. Feigenbaum and Todd M. Rubin of counsel), for appellants.
Mayer Brown LLP, New York City (Andrew H. Schapiro, Andrew L. Frey, Lauren R. Goldman and Scott A. Chesin of counsel), Joseph W. Bellacosa, Garden City, Arnold & Porter LLP, New York City (Keri L. Arnold and Angela Showalter of counsel), Winston & Strawn LLP (Thomas J. Quigley and Luke A. Connelly of counsel), Chadbourne & Parke LLP (Thomas E. Riley, Ellen Black and Cassandre L. Charles of counsel) and Arnold & Porter LLP, Washington, D.C. (James M. Rosenthal of counsel), for respondents.
Goldberg Segalla LLP, Buffalo (Neil A. Goldberg, Matthew S. Lerner and Bryan D. Richmond of counsel), and Hugh F. Young, Jr., Reston, Virginia, for Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., amicus curiae.
James A. Henderson, Jr., Ithaca, for Professor James A. Henderson, Jr., amicus curiae.
Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber LLP, Washington, D.C. (Rachel Li Wai Suen of counsel), and National Chamber Litigation Center, Inc. (Robin S. Conrad of counsel), for Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, amicus curiae.
Chief Judge KAYE and Judges CIPARICK, GRAFFEO, READ and JONES concur with Judge SMITH; Judge PIGOTT dissents in a separate opinion.
Court of Appeals of the State of New York.
OPINION OF THE COURT
SMITH, J.
Plaintiffs claim that two cigarette companies were negligent in designing their product, in that they should have used lower levels of tar and nicotine. We agree with the Appellate Division that plaintiffs failed to prove an essential element of their case: that regular cigarettes and "light" cigarettes have the same "utility." The only "utility" of a cigarette is to gratify smokers' desires for a certain experience, and plaintiffs...
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