Author: Mark Gottlieb

Mark Gottlieb joined the staff of the Public Health Advocacy Institute in 1993 after graduating from Northeastern University School of Law. His efforts have focused on researching tobacco litigation as a public health strategy as director of the Tobacco Products Liability Project, reducing the harm caused by secondhand tobacco smoke through a variety of legal and policy approaches, fostering scholarship using tobacco industry documents, and, more recently, examining legal and policy approaches to address obesity. He is the Executive Director of the Institute and lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife and three children.

Supreme Court Rejects Key Tobacco Industry Appeal Leaving “Massive Liability . . . with no End in Sight.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Edward L. Sweda 617-373-8462 Tobacco companies face the prospect of having to pay billions of dollars in liability to Florida smokers after the U.S. Supreme Court today denied Reynolds American’s petition for certiorari in the case of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Mathilde Martin, No. 11-754. The company had appealed a […]

Canadian Class Action Lawsuits Seek Billions of Dollars from Major Tobacco Companies

Two historic class action lawsuits that were filed in 1998 finally reached trial on March 12, 2012 in Montreal. The cases, Cecilia Letourneau v. JTI_Macdonald Corp., Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. and Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. and Conseil quebecois sur le tabac et la santé and Jean-Yves Blais v. JTI-Macdonald Corp., Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. […]

Jury in Miami Assesses $25 Million in Punitive Damages Against Tobacco Firm in an Engle Progeny Trial

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Edward L. Sweda, Jr. (617) 373-8462 A Florida state jury today assessed $25 million in punitive damages against Lorillard Tobacco Co. for its reprehensible misconduct involving the lung cancer death of Coleman Alexander. His widow Dorothy, a retired nurse who brought a wrongful death lawsuit against the company, was awarded $20 […]

PHAI Releases New Resources to Use Law to Fight Junk Food Marketing to Kids

Food and beverage marketing targeting children is a major focus of the food and beverage industry because, as the Institute of Medicine’s report on the subject bluntly declared, “marketing works.” Deceptive and unfair marketing to promote high-calorie low-nutrient foods and beverages affect parent-consumer food purchasing decisions and induce demand among children for products that contribute […]

Federal Judge Blasts RJ Reynolds for Providing a “Wholly Inaccurate Description of the Trial Record” and Upholds Multi-Million Dollar Verdict

For Immediate Release Contact: Edward L. Sweda, Jr. (617) 373-8462 U.S. District Court Judge Stefan R. Underhill on Friday denied R.J. Reynolds’ motion for a new trial or for judgment as a matter of law in the case of Izzarelli v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Barbara Izzarelli smoked Salem King cigarettes for 25 years until […]

Shareholder meeting report – Altria Group CEO Michael Szymanczyk: An artful dodger

By Edward L. Sweda, Jr., Senior Attorney RICHMOND, VA. – Just eight days before the Altria Group, Inc. 2011 Annual Shareholders Meeting in this historic city, Altria Group’s former Chief Executive Officer, Louis Camilleri, complicated matters for his successor. At the Philip Morris International Annual Shareholders Meeting in New York City on May 11, 2011, […]

PHAI’s Wilking urges repeal of MA sales tax exemption for soda as first step in Boston Globe Letter to Editor

In a May 18, 2011 Letter to the Editor published in the Boston Globe, PHAI Staff Attorney Cara Wilking argues that elimination of the sales tax exemption for sodas is a reasonable first step to reduce the impact of sugary drinks on obesity. However, a per ounce excise tax would have a more significant impact, […]

Reynolds American, Inc. “takes step” and remains rigid at shareholder meeting

By Edward L. Sweda, Jr., Senior Attorney WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — On Thursday, May 5, 2011, I made my way to this historic city via the Winston-Salem Express. Friday morning at 9:00 A.M. sharp was the scheduled start of the 2011 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of tobacco giant Reynolds American, Inc. (RAI). Beautiful sunny skies greeted everyone in […]

Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds hit by $40 million verdict in Florida this week

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Edward L. Sweda, Jr. or Mark Gottlieb 617-373-8462 or 617-373-2026 A Jacksonville, Florida jury this week assessed $34 million in punitive damages against tobacco giants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. for their reprehensible misconduct in the case of Andy Allen v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al. This award […]

Journal of Public Health Policy issues Call for Papers on changing food industry behavior

The Journal of Public Health Policy’s Co-Editor, Anthony Robbins and Editorial Board Member and Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition at NYU, Marion Nestle, have recently issued a Call for Papers for the Journal in an editorial entitled: Obesity as collateral damage: A call for papers on the Obesity Epidemic. We at PHAI encourage colleagues in […]