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Price v. Philip Morris12/15/2005
ify a plaintiff class of consumers who purchased Cambridge Lights and Marlboro Lights in the State of Illinois for personal consumption between their introduction and February 8, 2001. Thus, the class period for purchases of Cambridge Lights was from 1986 to 2001; the class period for Marlboro Lights was from 1971 to 2001.
On July 7, 2002, PMUSA filed a motion to decertify the class based on this court's decision in Oliveira v. Amoco Oil Co., 201 Ill. 2d 134 (2002). In Oliveira, this court held that "to properly plead the element of proximate causation in a private cause of action for deceptive advertising brought under the Act," the plaintiff must allege that he was "in some manner" deceived by the advertisement. Oliveira, 201 Ill. 2d at 155. The circuit court denied the motion to decertify the class, rejecting PMUSA's argument that class certification was improper because the question of deception was necessarily an individual question, not a common question of fact that could be determined for the class as a whole.
Notice of the class action was published in 21 newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA Today, and 18 regional Illinois newspapers. In addition, notice was given to the general public via the Internet and a press release to PR Newswire International Newslines Service. PMUSA's request that notice be given to individual Illinois residents whose names and addresses were available from its own database of consumers was denied.
PMUSA requested that the circuit court adopt a trial plan that would allow it to address the questions of actual deception, actual reliance, and other issues that, it argued, were individual issues. The circuit court rejected the proposed trial plan. Similarly, PMUSA's request to depose individual class members other than the named plaintiffs and those selected by plaintiffs' counsel was denied by the circuit court.
At the close of evidence, on March 10, 2003, PMUSA again moved for decertification of the class. In the final judgment order, the circuit court again found that class certification was proper because common issues of law and fact predominated. Specifically, "Philip Morris has engaged in a course of conduct that affects this Class in such a way that all members share various elements of this cause of action." The following factual issues were determined by the circuit court to be common to all members of the class:
"a. whether Class members understood the descriptor `lights' and `lowered tar and nicotine' to mean less harmful, safer and/or delivering less tar;
b. whether these representations were false and/or misleading to Class members;
c. whether Defendant Philip Morris intended for the Class to rely upon these representations;
c. whether Philip Morris's conduct violated the Illinois Commerce Fraud Act and whether this violation was willful and wanton; and
d. whether Class members sustained damage as a result of Philip Morris' deceptive conduct."
On appeal, PMUSA argues that the circuit court erred in certifying the class because of the predominance of individual issues. In particular, PMUSA questions whether it was proper for the circuit court to conclude that the elements of actual deception and reliance could be established for all members of the class. PMUSA argues that the expert testimony offered by plaintiffs on these issues could not and did not establish the existence of these facts as to every member of the plaintiff class.
In addition, PMUSA argues that the circuit court improperly applied the discovery rule to toll the running of the statute of limitations (815 ILCS 505/10
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