A Missouri state appeals court has thrown out a lawsuit against tobacco company Brown & Williamson, even though jurists said the evidence suggests that the company tried to conceal the harms associated with smoking, the Associated Press reported Aug. 1.

The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District nullified a $20-million jury award against the company. But in a 2-1 decision, the panel said that enough evidence exists about alleged company wrongdoing that a new trial on punitive damages is warranted.

"B&W had an active process of creating controversy regarding the health risks of smoking and planned to dispute every Surgeon General's report, regardless of what it was based upon," wrote Judge Robert Ulrich in the majority opinion. "Further, B&W had policies of preventing harmful information from becoming available to the public and established procedures to ensure negative information did not reach the public. This rises to the level of clear and convincing."

The dissenting judge, however, argued that the whole case should be dismissed, and said he would call on the Missouri Supreme Court to decide the issue.

The court threw out the original jury award because the judges said it was unclear what evidence jurors used to come up with the $20-million figure.

The case was brought on behalf of the family of smoker Barbara Smith, who died of a heart attack in 2000. In 2005, a jury ruled that Smith was 75 percent responsible for her health problems but that Brown & Williamson was 25 percent responsible, and awarded $500,000 in compensatory damages along with the $20 million in punitive damages.