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Salem, MA— Jurors Wednesday cleared Philip Morris and a grocery store chain of responsibility for the esophageal cancer of a Massachusetts man who smoked the tobacco giant’s cigarettes for decades. Bagnell v. Philip Morris, et al., 2177CV00877.
The Massachusetts state court jury specifically concluded Philip Morris’ Marlboro cigarettes did not cause Mark Bagnell’s esophageal cancer. Bagnell, who became a full-time smoker in the 1960s, favored Philip Morris’ Marlboro cigarettes for much of that time, before quitting in 2013. Doctors diagnosed him with esophageal cancer in 2019; he ultimately died in 2021, at age 72. Bagnell’s family claims Philip Morris, and grocer Stop & Shop, which sold Marlboros to Bagnell, are responsible for his cancer and death, by making, marketing, and selling unreasonably dangerous cigarettes.
Parties disputed a range of issues in the case, including whether esophageal cancer caused Bagnell’s death, though the trial, which stretched across four weeks, ultimately turned on what caused the disease itself.
During Tuesday's closings, Tein Malone’s Michael Tein, representing Bagnell’s family, walked jurors through evidence he said showed Philip Morris’ cigarettes caused Bagnell’s cancer. Tein reminded jurors of expert testimony that both concluded that Philip Morris’ cigarettes led to Bagnell’s disease, and determined that Bagnell's other risk factors were not significant enough to cause the cancer.
“We don’t have to prove it was the only cause; there could have been other things in the mix, too,” Tein said. “But the 40-plus years of smoking the Marlboro cigarettes, the overwhelming evidence is that cigarettes caused it.”
However, Philip Morris countered that other risk factors for the disease, combined with when the disease was actually diagnosed, supported a conclusion that Bagnell's cancer was not caused by the company’s Marlboros.
During Tuesday’s closings, Fasi & DiBello’s Joseph Fasi II reminded jurors of evidence that Bagnell drank alcohol, smoked cigars, and used smokeless tobacco during his life, which Fasi said were all independent risk factors for esophageal cancer. And he added that, because Bagnell had quit smoking roughly six years before his cancer diagnosis, evidence showed his risk of developing esophageal cancer from his smoking had diminished to roughly the level of someone who had never smoked cigarettes.
“[Plaintiff’s attorneys], I submit to you, have completely failed to meet their burden of proof that cigarette smoking caused Mr. Bagnell’s esophageal cancer, let alone that Marlboro cigarettes specifically caused it,” Fasi said.
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
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