An Illinois appeals court is being asked to revive a tobacco liability case that resulted in a $10.1-billion judgment against the tobacco industry, the Associated Press reported May 21.

The 2003 judgment was thrown out on appeal, but now the judge in the original case is asking the 5th District Appellate Court of Illinois to reopen the lawsuit. Madison County Circuit Judge Nicholas Byron hit the tobacco industry with the huge penalty after ruling that manufacturers had intentionally misled the public about the health dangers of smoking "light" cigarettes.

But the state Supreme Court, and later the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled that the tobacco industry could not be held liable because the federal government allowed tobacco firms to use terms like "light" and "low-tar" to market cigarettes.

In seeking to revive the lawsuit, Byron said that in an unrelated tobacco case the U.S. solicitor general told the courts that the Federal Trade Commission never gave permission for Philip Morris -- the plaintiff in the Illinois case -- to use the word "lights" or the phrase "lower tar and nicotine."

"There is no question the Supreme Court of Illinois got it wrong when it said the words were authorized by the FTC," said the lawyer in the Illinois case, Stephen Tillery. "The question now is what the courts can do about it."

Former Illinois Gov. James Thompson, who is representing Philip Morris, said the appeals court has no power to reopen the case, and general counsel William Ohlemeyer said the firm considers the case closed.