Question: Mrs. Lanuzzi began smoking in 1951 when she was fifteen. She smoked two packs a day until her death from lung cancer in 1984. She had tried several times, unsuccessfully, to quit. Her family brought a wrongful death and products liability suit against the cigarette manufacturer, Phillip Morris. The evidence showed that there was some suspicion that cigarette smoking could cause cancer as early as the 1950''s.
Some internal documents of Phillip Morris indicated that they knew that there was some evidence of the causal connection between cigarette use and illness, but that they did not warn consumers of this information.
The FDA did not require that warnings of the risk of illness be placed on packages until the 1960s. Phillip Morris did so at that time, in compliance with federal law.
Since FDA did not start to regulate labeling for tobacco until 1960, should they also be held liable for the death of Mrs. Lanuzzi?
IRAC your response using Skidmore, Chevron or Mead.
- Established a doctrine of cautious deference with regard to agency interpretation
- Courts are to give the agency Administrator?s experience in decision making deference over uninformed judicial decision making