A Quick Million (Baht) Or So

I normally wouldn't join up for this sort of thing, because I don't believe in crying "foul" when a person is well-aware of the rules going into the game. Therefore, I would never sue a tobacco company for any damages that cigarettes did to my health.

This however, is different. I smoked Marlboro Lights for exactly 20 years specifically because they were marketed to me as a product that (while still dangerous) contained less of all the things that a normal cigarette had (tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, and taste) and therefore were less damaging to my health (albeit, less enjoyable) than "regular strength" cigarettes.

Now: It turns out that Marlboro Lights did absolutely nothing to cut health risks, even though I was led to believe otherwise. If this is proven in court, then I am entitled to a partial refund which is calculated (by law) as the difference between the actual price of the cigarettes I have purchased throughout my life, and what a reasonable person would have paid for the "Light" (i.e. inferior) product, if that person had known the truth about the product. (The pdf file of the case cites a 77% discount, and I calculated this as 20 years x 365 days x $5 of cigarettes per day x 77%, which equals just over $25,000.)

So, I'm joining this class action suit for damages because I was misled by Phillip Morris into smoking Marlboro Lights by their offering of benefits that did not exist. If I smoked regular Marlboros, I wouldn't be a member of the class.