Supreme Court of California

There is no special presumption that smokers are aware of the addictiveness or health hazards of smoking, but there is a general, rebuttable presumption that a plaintiff has knowledge of the wrongful cause of his or her injury. If a plaintiff's cause of action depends upon delayed discovery of his or her addiction to tobacco in order to be timely, he or she must plead facts showing an inability to have discovered that addiction, such as reasonable reliance on tobacco company misrepresentations.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/15/2007
• Published 02/15/2007

Judges

• MORENO, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Baum, Hedliund, Aristei & Guilford, Baum Hedlund, Frances M. Phares, Michael L. Baum,J. Clark Aristei, Los Angeles;  Law Offices of Daniel U. Smith and Daniel U. Smith, Kentfield, for Plaintiff and Appellant Leslie Grisham., Brayton Purcell, Alan R. Brayton, Gilbert L. Purcell, Lloyd F. LeRoy, Novato, and Nance F. Becker, San Francisco, for Nikki Pooshs as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant Leslie Grisham., Arkin & Glovsky and Sharon J. Arkin, for Consumer Attorneys of California s Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant Leslie Grisham., Law Offices of Martin L. Louis and Martin L. Stanley, Beverly Hills, for Plaintiff and Appellant Maria Cannata.


• For Appellees:
  
• Munger, Tolles & Olson, Daniel P. Collins, Daniel B. Levin, Los Angeles;  Arnold & Porter and Murray R. Garnick, for Defendant and Respondent Philip Morris U.S.A. Inc., Jones Day, Elwood Lui, Peter N. Larson, San Francisco, Paul G. Crist;  Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, Frederick D. Baker, San Francisco, Ralph A. Campillo, Los Angeles;  and Maurice Leiter, Los Angeles, for Defendant and Respondent Brown & Williamson Holdings, Inc., Daniel J. Popeo, Richard A. Stamp;  Zacks Utrecht & Leadbetter and Paul F. Utrecht, San Francisco, for Washington Legal Foundation as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents., Hugh F. Young, Jr., and Harvey M. Grossman, for The Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents.