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| 4.__Tobacco or tobacco products.__"Tobacco" or "tobacco products" | | means cigarettes, cigars, cheroots, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, | | snuff and any other form of tobacco prepared for smoking, chewing, | | inhaling or other human use. |
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| | | 5.__Tobacco manufacturer.__"Tobacco manufacturer" means any | | entity that manufactures, packages, labels or prepares tobacco or | | tobacco products for human use. |
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| | | A tobacco manufacturer whose products are distributed, | | marketed or sold to consumers in this State after December 31, | | 1999 is strictly liable for the economic loss and related costs | | arising from personal injury, death or disease that is reasonably | | attributable to human exposure to its tobacco products and may | | not assert against such claims the defenses of comparative | | negligence, contributory fault or assumption of the risk.__All | | such economic loss sustained after December 31, 1999 is | | recoverable regardless of when the exposure occurred.__Economic | | loss may not be diminished by any theory or assertion that a | | victim's early death from tobacco exposure may have reduced the | | victim's consumption of future medical services. |
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| | | §8353.__Recovery by the State, an insurer or health care provider |
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| | | If the State, an insurer or a health care provider incurs | | after December 31, 1999 any economic loss reasonably attributable | | to human exposure to tobacco or tobacco smoke, then that entity | | may recover its loss from any tobacco manufacturer liable under | | this chapter or liable under other applicable law.__A recovery by | | an entity under this section is independent of any recovery to | | which an individual may be entitled.__The State may proceed by | | action of the commissioner represented either by the Attorney | | General or by private attorneys pursuant to section 8358. |
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| | | §8354.__Recovery by individuals |
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| | | If, after December 31, 1999, an individual sustains an injury, | | death or disease that is reasonably attributable to that person's | | exposure to tobacco or tobacco smoke, then that person may | | recover from any tobacco manufacturer liable under this chapter | | or other applicable law that person's economic loss that arises | | from exposure to the manufacturer's products regardless of when | | the exposure may have occurred.__Economic loss recoverable by an | | individual includes future losses that are reasonably foreseeable | | at the time when recovery is made.__If a portion of the loss has | | been paid by an entity that asserts its own claim for economic | | loss under section 8353, the court shall grant |
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