Mealey's (December 28, 2017, 2:57 PM EST) -- SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 20 affirmed a $900,000 verdict in a product liability suit against a tobacco company after finding that the trial court did not err “in holding that issue preclusion foreclosed Philip Morris from relitigating whether its conduct caused Betty Bullock’s lung cancer” (Jodie Bullock v. Philip Morris USA Inc., No. 16-55355, 9th Cir., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 25940)....