The trial court determined that class certification was a statutorily authorized method to adjudicate the multiplicity ofclaims. The Appellate Division decertified the classes. It also concluded that certain claims were preempted by the Federal Act, and dismissed the remaining causes of action. We answer yes, and affirm the Appellate Division order. I. Five class actions on behalf of New York consumers were filed against defendant tobacco companies and two other entities, the Council for Tobacco Research and the Tobacco Institute.
Plaintiffs also assert that the companies suppressed research indicating that nicotine is addictive.
They seek only the reimbursement of the purchase cost of cigarettes that they claim they would not have bought, but for defendants' fraudulent and deceptive practices. It also determined that plaintiffs' claimswere preempted by the Federal statute, insofar as they allege fraudulent concealment and failure to warn of the dangers of nicotine. While it concluded that plaintiffs' claims alleging affirmative misrepresentation were not preempted by the Federal statute, the court nonetheless dismissed those claims because they were not pleaded with the required specificity. As a threshold matter, this Court must determine the breadth of its power to review the Appellate Division order decertifying the classes. The Appellate Division also noted that the dangers of smoking had been well documented and were generally known to the public.