The jury heard arguments in a class-action lawsuit brought by 250,000 West Virginia smokers. The lawsuit called for tobacco companies to subsidize medical monitoring for the early detection of lung cancer, emphysema, and other smoking-related illnesses.

After two days of deliberations, the jury ruled that cigarettes are not a defective product, and that cigarette makers were not negligent in designing, making, or selling them.

While jurors said they recognized that those who have been smoking a pack-a-day for five or more years have an increased risk of contracting a smoking-related disease, they ruled against the need for medical monitoring.

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