(United States District Court, N.D.Ohio, E.D) A tobacco company was sued in negligence.
Held: ‘The dangers posed by tobacco smoking have long been within the ordinary knowledge common to the community. In fact, tobacco is specifically mentioned in the Restatement (Second) of Torts as an example of a product which is not defective merely because the effects of smoking may be harmful. Rest. (2d) of Torts -402A(i).’ and ‘[E]specially in light of the Sixth Circuit’s holding in Roysdon, this Court finds that the better-reasoned decisions are those finding the dangers of smoking to have been common knowledge. Much as in the case of alcohol, users of tobacco products have made a consumer choice in the face of health risks that are common to ordinary knowledge . . That some ignore or underestimate these risks has little bearing on the extent to which knowledge of the dangers [is] salient within the community. Therefore, because the risks posed by smoking are an inherent characteristic of cigarettes, and because knowledge of these risks has been common to the community since well before 1966, Paugh’s allegations are insufficient to support her claim for damages caused by a product in an ‘unsafe and defective’ condition. . .’
Citations:
834 F.Supp. 228 (N.D.Ohio 1993)
Jurisdiction:
United States
Cited by:
Cited – McTear v Imperial Tobacco Ltd OHCS 31-May-2005
The pursuer sought damages after her husband’s death from lung cancer. She said that the defenders were negligent in having continued to sell him cigarettes knowing that they would cause this.
Held: The action failed. The plaintiff had not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
International, Negligence
Updated: 17 May 2022; Ref: scu.226710