A class-action lawsuit against Philip Morris USA has been rejected by the Illinois Supreme Court for a second time, putting the future of the $10.1-billion case in serious doubt, the Belleville News-Democrat reported Aug. 23.

In 2003, a circuit court judge awarded a huge judgment against the tobacco company in a class-action lawsuit centered on claims that Philip Morris misled consumers into believing that "light" cigarettes were less harmful than regular ones. In 2005, the Illinois Supreme Court threw the award out on appeal, saying that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had allowed the used of the term "light."

The plaintiffs' appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court failed, but they again appealed to the state Supreme Court when a brief in an unrelated case revealed that the FTC never regulated the use of the term "light." But this week the Illinois high court ruled against another appeal in the case.

The plaintiffs could still file a motion arguing that new evidence has come to light in the form of the FTC brief, but it's not certain if that will happen.