Mass. High Court Asks If State’s Tobacco Settlement Precludes Punitives For Widow

Mealey's (May 5, 2021, 1:57 PM EDT) -- BOSTON — Counsel for a tobacco company told the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court at oral argument on May 3 that under res judicata, a smoker’s widow awarded $21 million in a wrongful death action should have been barred from seeking punitive damages for her breach of warranty claim because a similar claim brought on behalf of Massachusetts residents was resolved by a 1998 Master Settlement Agreement that the state’s attorney general entered into with tobacco companies....