R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company v. Barbara A. Izzarelli

Whether, as the Second Circuit held, in direct conflict with three other courts of appeal, a district court may preclude a defendant from presenting evidence and conducting cross examination regarding well-established risk factors for a plaintiff’s injury unless the defendant meets an independent burden to prove that the risk factors are, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, an actual cause of the plaintiff’s injury?

Whether a plaintiff’s claims against a cigarette manufacturer for strict liability and negligence are preempted by federal law where the claims are based on a state-imposed obligation not to sell cigarettes regardless of whether there is a superior alternate design?