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3884 REHEARING GRANTED A tobacco company's creation of a false public controversy regarding the dangers of smoking was directed toward all addicted smokers and could be the basis of fraud liability to any of them; a plaintiff's belief in the honesty of big business, coupled with a tobacco company's intent that its misrepresentations and misleading statements would permit addicted smokers to engage in denial and rationalization to keep them smoking, was sufficient to support a jury's finding of justified reliance by plaintiff on the misrepresentations; evidence that cigarettes marketed as "light" and "ultralight" created a consumer belief that they were less harmful than ordinary cigarettes when in fact they were even more dangerous justified the conclusion that the product failed to meet the expectations of the reasonable consumer and was therefore defective as designed; the reprehensibility of the tobacco company's conduct justified a punitive damages award nine times compensatory damages.CitationBOEKEN v PHILIP MORRIS (Tobacco Cancer) 122 CA4 684 [See: Mirkin v Wasserman 5 C4 1082, T/AT 11/93; Barker v Lull 20 C3 413; State Farm v Campbell 538 US 408, T/AT 7/03]
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