in brief: Post-Tobacco II remand case, Pfizer v. Superior Court, is now published
The shockwaves of Tobacco II continue. Today, the Court of Appeal (Second Appellate District, Division Three) published its Opinion in Pfizer v. Superior Court (March 2, 2010) after the matter was remanded by the California Supreme Court following the Tobacco II decision. The Court focused heavily on the length of time and extent of the advertising campaign for Listerine that was at issue in the case. Less than half a year and sporadic distribution wasn't enough to convince the Court to apply Tobacco II. So now we have Morgan, et al. v. AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. (September 23, 2009), that found an advertising campaign of around a year to be long enough for a reliance inference, but just under half a year is insufficient. I suppose those 8-month ad campaigns will be judged on a fact-intensive analysis that looks at whether the ads were continuous and pervasive or sporadic and poorly circulated.