‘Sloppy’ Massachusetts Interest Rate Has Edge in Big Tobacco Row (1)

Big Tobacco’s effort to upend a decades-old interest rate law for tort judgments faces long odds as Massachusetts judges consider rulings forcing Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to pay two smokers millions of dollars.

If the tobacco companies get their way, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court would likely be the first top state court in the nation to find a law determining pre- and post-judgment interest unconstitutional, according to the National Consumer Law Center.

The plaintiffs in the two cases both are seeking damages from physical harm caused to them by smoking. Almost half of states use ...