In boot camp, recruits are trained to inflict maximum damage on enemy personnel. Confusing the police function with the military function can have dangerous consequences. Tobacco hasn't been the only business newly buffeted by this wave of juror outrage. In February, for the first time, a jury decided to hold gun manufacturers responsible for the criminal use of their products. Again, some jurors said the industry had it coming.
Lawsuits condemning cigarettes and guns are nothing new.
Advocacy groups have campaigned for years against the tobacco and firearms industries, using the courts as a weapon. Jurors in these cases were staking out new territory in American law, asserting their interest in issues broader than the behavior of a single corporate defendant. In the current product liability disputes, jurors say their verdicts are based on the evidence in the case. This increased willingness to find against the tobacco and gun industries has released a torrent of new litigation and could have wide repercussions for other businesses and people who claim they have been hurt by their products. Their suits are the leading edge of a novel and dangerous approach to public policy that ultimately threatens the rule of law.