Northwest Laborers-Employers Health & Security Trust Fund v. Philip Morris, Inc.

58 F. Supp. 2d 1211, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11557
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedJuly 22, 1999
DocketNo. C97-849WD
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 58 F. Supp. 2d 1211 (Northwest Laborers-Employers Health & Security Trust Fund v. Philip Morris, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Northwest Laborers-Employers Health & Security Trust Fund v. Philip Morris, Inc., 58 F. Supp. 2d 1211, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11557 (W.D. Wash. 1999).

Opinion

ORDER ON DEFENDANTS’ SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTIONS AND PLAINTIFFS’ RENEWED MOTION FOR CERTIFICATION

DWYER, District Judge.

The plaintiffs and class members in this case are collectively bargained-for-health and welfare trusts in Washington, and their trustees. In their second amended complaint the plaintiffs allege a conspiracy by defendants to deceive and defraud the public and health care providers and pay-ors such as themselves by misrepresenting the addictiveriess of tobacco products, and to suppress competition in the development of safer cigarettes. These acts, plaintiffs allege, were “done with the purpose and effect of ... ensuring that other health care providers and payors and not defendants bore the business costs of the disease and illness caused by defendants’ unsafe products.” The claims originally pleaded were antitrust violations, RICO violations, breach of special duty, unjust enrichment, violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act (RCW ch. 19.86), intentional interference with contractual [1214]*1214relations, and conspiracy. Defendants moved last year for judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(e). After hearing argument, the court denied the motion in an order entered December 23,1998 (Dkt.# 438), stating:

In the present case it is entirely possible that some or all of plaintiffs’ claims will be defeated on summary judgment. But we are not at the summary judgment stage. The motion concerns only the pleadings, and it cannot be said that all of plaintiffs’ claims will necessarily fail no matter what facts are proved.

Since the order on the Rule 12(c) motion was entered, discovery has been taken, and the federal claims have been dismissed by a stipulated order (Dkt.# 649). Defendants now move for summary judgment on the remaining claims, all of which aré brought under Washington law. The remaining claims are for unfair and deceptive practices in violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act (CPA), antitrust violations pleaded under another part of the same statute, and several common law claims. The court has jurisdiction over the state claims by virtue of diversity of citizenship, 28 U.S.C.. § 1332. Oral argument on the defendants’ motions to dismiss these remaining claims on summary judgment was heard on July 19, 1999. All materials filed, and the arguments of counsel, have been considered.

Three major changes have occurred since the order on the Rule 12(c) motion was entered. First, the federal claims have been dropped, as noted above. Second, discovery has been taken and a record adequate for summary judgment purposes has been created. Third, on July 14, 1999, five days before the oral argument in this case, the Ninth Circuit decided Oregon Laborers Employers Health & Welfare Trust v. Philip Morris, 185 F.3d 957 (9th Cir.1999), affirming the dismissal, for failure to state a claim, of an action similar to this one brought in the District of Oregon by health and welfare trust funds based in that state.

The test now to be applied is, of course, different from the Rule 12(c) standard, which requires that a complaint not be dismissed unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiffs could prove no set of facts in support of their claims that would entitle them to relief. See Dkt. # 438, at 2. A motion under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 is based on the evidentiary record at hand, and summary judgment may be granted if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. An issue of material fact is one that affects the outcome of the case and requires a trial to resolve differing versions of the truth. Admiralty Fund v. Hugh Johnson & Co., 677 F.2d 1301, 1305-06 (9th Cir.1982). In deciding the motion the court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and draws all reasonable inferences in that party’s favor. Poller v. Columbia Broadcasting System Inc., 368 U.S. 464, 473, 82 S.Ct. 486, 7 L.Ed.2d 458 (1962); T.W. Elec. Serv., Inc. v. Pacific Elec. Contractors Ass’n, 809 F.2d 626, 630-31 (9th Cir.1987). However, the non-moving party must respond to an adequately supported motion by showing that a genuine issue of material fact exists; if the response falls short of that, summary judgment should be granted. Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(e); T.W. Elec. Serv., Inc., 809 F.2d at 630-31.

The record here, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs and class members, shows that the tobacco companies conspired to mislead the public about the dangers of smoking and to forestall the development of safer products, as a result of which more people became ill from smoking than otherwise would have, and health care expenses, including' some incurred by the plaintiffs -and class members, increased. As damages, the claimants seek to recover these increased health care costs. The record contains no suggestion that the claimant funds and the defendants were in the same market, or that they had any communications or transactions with each other, or that the [1215]*1215funds acted in reliance upon any act or representation by the defendants, or that the defendants even knew of the funds’ existence. The claims are derivative; the injuries to the smokers who were misled, it is alleged, resulted in the funds’ incurring health care expenses. There is no showing of a direct link between the alleged misconduct of the tobacco companies and the alleged damage to the funds. Plaintiffs also contend that defendants prevented them from taking counter-measures against smoking, but have presented no evidence that they would have acted differently but for the defendants’ alleged misconduct.

The Ninth Circuit in Oregon Laborers affirmed the dismissal of very similar claims for several reasons: lack of proximate cause; remoteness of the alleged damage; the availability of other claimants, i.e., the smokers, who could pursue a remedy (although not under RICO or the antitrust laws or the Oregon Unfair Trade Practices Act); the difficulty of proving certain categories of damage alleged by the health and welfare funds; the absence of antitrust injury; and the absence of elements required for the common law claims pleaded. 185 F.3d at 962-63.1 The Oregon Laborers decision is based upon federal and Oregon law, whereas the present case, since the federal claims were dropped, turns on Washington law. Oregon Laborers also was decided on the pleadings rather than on summary judgment. The question, then, is whether anything in the summary judgment record here, or in Washington law, could justify a different result. The answer must be negative; even when the record and all reasonable inferences therefrom are viewed in plaintiffs’ favor, there is no genuine issue of material fact for trial.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Calkins v. City of Seattle
W.D. Washington, 2024
Simmers v. King County
W.D. Washington, 2022
NW Monitoring LLC v. Hollander
W.D. Washington, 2021
In re Residential Capital, LLC
531 B.R. 1 (S.D. New York, 2015)
GOSSEN v. JPMorgan Chase Bank
819 F. Supp. 2d 1162 (W.D. Washington, 2011)
Ambach v. French
167 Wash. 2d 167 (Washington Supreme Court, 2009)
Schwab v. Philip Morris USA, Inc.
449 F. Supp. 2d 992 (E.D. New York, 2006)
Republic of Guatemala v. Tobacco Institute, Inc.
83 F. Supp. 2d 125 (District of Columbia, 1999)
In Re tobacco/governmental Health Care Costs
83 F. Supp. 2d 125 (District of Columbia, 1999)
NORTHWEST LABORERS-EMPLOYERS v. Philip Morris, Inc.
58 F. Supp. 2d 1211 (W.D. Washington, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
58 F. Supp. 2d 1211, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11557, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/northwest-laborers-employers-health-security-trust-fund-v-philip-morris-wawd-1999.