Mass. Federal Judge Allows Medical Monitoring Claims to Proceed Against Philip Morris

BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge has allowed plaintiffs in a Marlboro cigarette case to proceed with their medical monitoring claims against Philip Morris USA Inc., ruling that no question of fact exists as to whether a monetary award will provide relief that is as “certain, complete and efficient” as the remedy sought by plaintiffs.

However, in the Dec. 12 order, Judge Denise J. Casper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts refused to strike Philip Morris’s affirmative defense that no safer alternative design exists, finding the defendant has only established a question of fact as to …