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- NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
- preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested to
- notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
- ington, D.C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that
- corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press.
- SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
- --------
- No. 90-1038
- --------
- THOMAS CIPOLLONE, individually and as executor
- of the estate of ROSE D. CIPOLLONE, PETITIONER
- v. LIGGETT GROUP, INC., et al.
- on writ of certiorari to the united states court of
- appeals for the third circuit
- [June 24, 1992]
-
- Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court,
- except as to Parts V and VI.
- ``Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined
- That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your
- Health.'' A federal statute enacted in 1969 requires that
- warning (or a variation thereof) to appear in a conspic-
- uous place on every package of cigarettes sold in the
- United States. The questions presented to us by this
- case are whether that statute, or its 1965 predecessor
- which required a less alarming label, pre-empted peti-
- tioner's common law claims against respondent cigarette
- manufacturers.
- Petitioner is the son of Rose Cipollone, who began
- smoking in 1942 and who died of lung cancer in 1984. He
- claims that respondents are responsible for Rose Cipollone's
- death because they breached express warranties contained
- in their advertising, because they failed to warn consumers
- about the hazards of smoking, because they fraudulently
- misrepresented those hazards to consumers, and because
- they conspired to deprive the public of medical and scien-
- tific information about smoking. The Court of Appeals
- held that petitioner's state law claims were pre-empted by
- federal statutes, 893 F. 2d 541 (CA3 1990), and other courts
- have agreed with that analysis. The highest courts of the
- States of Minnesota and New Jersey, however, have held
- that the federal statutes did not pre-empt similar common
- law claims. Because of the manifest importance of the
- issue, we granted certiorari to resolve the conflict, 500 U. S.
- --- (1991). We now reverse in part and affirm in part.
-
- I
- On August 1, 1983, Rose Cipollone and her husband filed
- a complaint invoking the diversity jurisdiction of the
- Federal District Court. Their complaint alleged that Rose
- Cipollone developed lung cancer because she smoked
- cigarettes manufactured and sold by the three respondents.
- After her death in 1984, her husband filed an amended
- complaint. After trial, he also died; their son, executor of
- both estates, now maintains this action.
- Petitioner's third amended complaint alleges several
- different bases of recovery, relying on theories of strict
- liability, negligence, express warranty, and intentional tort.
- These claims, all based on New Jersey law, divide into five
- categories. The ``design defect claims'' allege that respond-
- ents' cigarettes were defective because respondents failed to
- use a safer alternative design for their products and
- because the social value of their product was outweighed by
- the dangers it created (Count 2, App. 83-84). The ``failure
- to warn claims'' allege both that the product was ``defective
- as a result of [respondents'] failure to provide adequate
- warnings of the health consequences of cigarette smoking''
- (Count 3, App. 85) and that respondents ``were negligent in
- the manner [that] they tested, researched, sold, promoted,
- and advertised'' their cigarettes (Count 4, App. 86). The
- ``express warranty claims'' allege that respondents had
- ``expressly warranted that smoking the cigarettes which
- they manufactured and sold did not present any significant
- health consequences'' (Count 7, App. 88). The ``fraudulent
- misrepresentation claims'' allege that respondents had
- wilfully ``through their advertising, attempted to neutralize
- the [federally mandated] warnin[g]'' labels (Count 6, App.
- 87-88), and that they had possessed, but had ``ignored and
- failed to act upon'' medical and scientific data indicating
- that ``cigarettes were hazardous to the health of consumers''
- (Count 8, App. 89). Finally, the ``conspiracy to defraud
- claims'' allege that respondents conspired to deprive the
- public of such medical and scientific data (Count 8, App.
- 89).
- As one of their defenses, respondents contended that the
- Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, enacted
- in 1965, and its successor, the Public Health Cigarette
- Smoking Act of 1969, protected them from any liability
- based on their conduct after 1965. In a pretrial ruling, the
- District Court concluded that the federal statutes were
- intended to establish a uniform warning that would prevail
- throughout the country and that would protect cigarette
- manufacturers from being ``subjected to varying require-
- ments from state to state,'' Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc.,
- 593 F. Supp. 1146, 1148 (NJ 1984), but that the statutes
- did not pre-empt common law actions. Id., at 1153-1170.
- Accordingly, the court granted a motion to strike the pre-
- emption defense entirely.
- The Court of Appeals accepted an interlocutory appeal
- pursuant to 28 U. S. C. 1292(b), and reversed. Cipollone
- v. Liggett Group, Inc., 789 F.2d 181 (CA3 1986). The court
- rejected respondents' contention that the federal Acts
- expressly pre-empted common law actions, but accepted
- their contention that such actions would conflict with
- federal law. Relying on the statement of purpose in the
- statutes, the court concluded that Congress' ``carefully
- drawn balance between the purposes of warning the public
- of the hazards of cigarette smoking and protecting the
- interests of the national economy'' would be upset by state
- law damages actions based on noncompliance with ``warn-
- ing, advertisement, and promotion obligations other than
- those prescribed in the [federal] Act.'' Id., at 187. Accord-
- ingly, the court held:
- ``the Act pre-empts those state law damage[s] actions
- relating to smoking and health that challenge either
- the adequacy of the warning on cigarette packages or
- the propriety of a party's actions with respect to the
- advertising and promotion of cigarettes. [W]here the
- success of a state law damage[s] claim necessarily
- depends on the assertion that a party bore the duty to
- provide a warning to consumers in addition to the
- warning Congress has required on cigarette packages,
- such claims are pre-empted as conflicting with the Act.''
- Ibid. (footnote omitted).
- The court did not, however, identify the specific claims
- asserted by petitioner that were pre-empted by the Act.
- This Court denied a petition for certiorari, 479 U. S. 1043
- (1987), and the case returned to the District Court for trial.
- Complying with the Court of Appeals mandate, the District
- Court held that the failure to warn, express warranty,
- fraudulent misrepresentation, and conspiracy to defraud
- claims were barred to the extent that they relied on
- respondents' advertising, promotional, and public relations
- activities after January 1, 1966 (the effective date of the
- 1965 Act). Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc., 649 F. Supp.
- 664, 669, 673-675 (NJ 1986). The court also ruled that
- while the design defect claims were not pre-empted by
- federal law, those claims were barred on other grounds.
- Id., at 669-672. Following extensive discovery and a four-
- month trial, the jury answered a series of special interroga-
- tories and awarded $400,000 in damages to Rose Cipollone's
- husband. In brief, it rejected all of the fraudulent misrepre-
- sentation and conspiracy claims, but found that respondent
- Liggett had breached its duty to warn and its express
- warranties before 1966. It found, however, that Rose
- Cipollone had ``voluntarily and unreasonably encounter[ed]
- a known danger by smoking cigarettes'' and that 80% of the
- responsibility for her injuries was attributable to her. See
- 893 F.2d, at 554 (summarizing jury findings). For that
- reason, no damages were awarded to her estate. However,
- the jury awarded damages to compensate her husband for
- losses caused by respondents' breach of express warranty.
- On cross-appeals from the final judgment, the Court of
- Appeals affirmed the District Court's pre-emption rulings
- but remanded for a new trial on several issues not relevant
- to our decision. We granted the petition for certiorari to
- consider the pre-emptive effect of the federal statutes.
-
- II
- Although physicians had suspected a link between
- smoking and illness for centuries, the first medical studies
- of that connection did not appear until the 1920s. See U. S.
- Dept. of Health and Human Services, Report of the Surgeon
- General, Reducing the Health Consequences of Smoking:
- 25 Years of Progress 5 (1989). The ensuing decades saw a
- wide range of epidemiologic and laboratory studies on the
- health hazards of smoking. Thus, by the time the Surgeon
- General convened an advisory committee to examine the
- issue in 1962, there were more than 7,000 publications
- examining the relationship between smoking and health.
- Id., at 5-7.
- In 1964, the advisory committee issued its report, which
- stated as its central conclusion: ``Cigarette smoking is a
- health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States
- to warrant appropriate remedial action.'' U. S. Dept. of
- Health, Education, and Welfare, U. S. Surgeon General's
- Advisory Committee, Smoking and Health 33 (1964).
- Relying in part on that report, the Federal Trade Commis-
- sion (FTC), which had long regulated unfair and deceptive
- advertising practices in the cigarette industry, promul-
- gated a new trade regulation rule. That rule, which was to
- take effect January 1, 1965, established that it would be a
- violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act ``to fail to
- disclose, clearly and prominently, in all advertising and on
- every pack, box, carton, or container [of cigarettes] that
- cigarette smoking is dangerous to health and may cause
- death from cancer and other diseases.'' 29 Fed. Reg. 8325
- (1964). Several States also moved to regulate the advertis-
- ing and labeling of cigarettes. See, e.g., 1965 N.Y. Laws,
- ch.470; see also 111 Cong. Rec. 13900-13902 (1965)
- (statement of Sen. Moss). Upon a congressional request,
- the FTC postponed enforcement of its new regulation for six
- months. In July 1965, Congress enacted the Federal
- Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act. The 1965 Act
- effectively adopted half of the FTC's regulation: the Act
- mandated warnings on cigarette packages (5(a)), but
- barred the requirement of such warnings in cigarette
- advertising (5(b)).
- Section 2 of the Act declares the statute's two purposes:
- (1) adequately informing the public that cigarette smoking
- may be hazardous to health, and (2) protecting the national
- economy from the burden imposed by diverse, nonuniform
- and confusing cigarette labeling and advertising regula-
- tions. In furtherance of the first purpose, 4 of the Act
- made it unlawful to sell or distribute any cigarettes in the
- United States unless the package bore a conspicuous label
- stating: ``Caution: Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazard-
- ous to Your Health.'' In furtherance of the second
- purpose, 5, captioned ``Preemption,'' provided in part:
- ``(a)No statement relating to smoking and health,
- other than the statement required by section 4 of this
- Act, shall be required on any cigarette package.
- ``(b)No statement relating to smoking and health shall
- be required in the advertising of any cigarettes the
- packages of which are labeled in conformity with the
- provisions of this Act.''
-
- Although the Act took effect January 1, 1966, 10 of the
- Act provided that its provisions affecting the regulation of
- advertising would terminate on July 1, 1969.
- As that termination date approached, federal authorities
- prepared to issue further regulations on cigarette advertis-
- ing. The FTC announced the reinstitution of its 1964
- proceedings concerning a warning requirement for cigarette
- advertisements. 34 Fed. Reg. 7917 (1969). The Federal
- Communications Commission (FCC) announced that it
- would consider ``a proposed rule which would ban the
- broadcast of cigarette commercials by radio and television
- stations.'' 34 Fed. Reg. 1959 (1969). State authorities also
- prepared to take actions regulating cigarette advertise-
- ments.
- It was in this context that Congress enacted the Public
- Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1969, which amended
- the 1965 Act in several ways. First, the 1969 Act strength-
- ened the warning label, in part by requiring a statement
- that cigarette smoking ``is dangerous'' rather than that it
- ``may be hazardous.'' Second, the 1969 Act banned cigarette
- advertising in ``any medium of electronic communication
- subject to [FCC] jurisdiction.'' Third, and related, the 1969
- Act modified the pre-emption provision by replacing the
- original 5(b) with a provision that reads:
- ``(b)No requirement or prohibition based on smoking
- and health shall be imposed under State law with
- respect to the advertising or promotion of any ciga-
- rettes the packages of which are labeled in conformity
- with the provisions of this Act.''
- Although the Act also directed the FTC not to ``take any
- action before July 1, 1971, with respect to its pending trade
- regulation rule proceeding relating to cigarette advertising,''
- the narrowing of the pre-emption provision to prohibit only
- restrictions ``imposed under State law'' cleared the way for
- the FTC to extend the warning-label requirement to print
- advertisements for cigarettes. The FTC did so in 1972. See
- In re Lorillard, 80 F.T.C. 455 (1972).
-
- III
- Article VI of the Constitution provides that the laws of
- the United States ``shall be the supreme Law of the Land;
- . . . any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any state to
- the Contrary notwithstanding.'' Art. VI, cl. 2. Thus, since
- our decision in McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316, 427
- (1819), it has been settled that state law that conflicts with
- federal law is ``without effect.'' Maryland v. Louisiana, 451
- U. S. 725, 746 (1981). Consideration of issues arising under
- the Supremacy Clause ``start[s] with the assumption that
- the historic police powers of the States [are] not to be
- superseded by . . . Federal Act unless that [is] the clear and
- manifest purpose of Congress.'' Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator
- Corp., 331 U. S. 218, 230 (1947). Accordingly, ```[t]he
- purpose of Congress is the ultimate touchstone''' of pre-
- emption analysis. Malone v. White Motor Corp., 435 U. S.
- 497, 504 (1978) (quoting Retail Clerks v. Schermerhorn, 375
- U. S. 96, 103 (1963)).
- Congress' intent may be ``explicitly stated in the statute's
- language or implicitly contained in its structure and
- purpose.'' Jones v. Rath Packing Co., 430 U. S. 519, 525
- (1977). In the absence of an express congressional com-
- mand, state law is pre-empted if that law actually conflicts
- with federal law, see Pacific Gas & Elec. Co. v. Energy
- Resources Conservation and Development Comm'n, 461 U. S.
- 190, 204 (1983), or if federal law so thoroughly occupies a
- legislative field ```as to make reasonable the inference that
- Congress left no room for the States to supplement it.'''
- Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan Assn. v. De la Cuesta, 458
- U. S. 141, 153 (1982) (quoting Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator
- Corp., 331 U. S., at 230).
- The Court of Appeals was not persuaded that the pre-
- emption provision in the 1969 Act encompassed state
- common law claims. 789 F.2d, at 185-186. It was also
- not persuaded that the labeling obligation imposed by both
- the 1965 and 1969 Acts revealed a congressional intent to
- exert exclusive federal control over every aspect of the
- relationship between cigarettes and health. Id., at 186.
- Nevertheless, reading the statute as a whole in the light of
- the statement of purpose in 2, and considering the
- potential regulatory effect of state common law actions on
- the federal interest in uniformity, the Court of Appeals
- concluded that Congress had impliedly pre-empted petition-
- er's claims challenging the adequacy of the warnings on
- labels or in advertising or the propriety of respondents'
- advertising and promotional activities. Id., at 187.
- In our opinion, the pre-emptive scope of the 1965 Act and
- the 1969 Act is governed entirely by the express language
- in 5 of each Act. When Congress has considered the issue
- of pre-emption and has included in the enacted legislation
- a provision explicitly addressing that issue, and when that
- provision provides a ``reliable indicium of congressional
- intent with respect to state authority,'' Malone v. White
- Motor Corp., 435 U. S., at 505, ``there is no need to infer
- congressional intent to pre-empt state laws from the
- substantive provisions'' of the legislation. California
- Federal Savings & Loan Assn. v. Guerra, 479 U. S. 272, 282
- (1987) (opinion of Marshall, J.). Such reasoning is a variant
- of the familiar principle of expressio unius est exclusio
- alterius: Congress' enactment of a provision defining the
- pre-emptive reach of a statute implies that matters beyond
- that reach are not pre-empted. In this case, the other
- provisions of the 1965 and 1969 Acts offer no cause to look
- beyond 5 of each Act. Therefore, we need only identify the
- domain expressly pre-empted by each of those sections. As
- the 1965 and 1969 provisions differ substantially, we
- consider each in turn.
-
- IV
- In the 1965 pre-emption provision regarding advertising
- (5(b)), Congress spoke precisely and narrowly: ``No
- statement relating to smoking and health shall be required
- in the advertising of [properly labeled] cigarettes.'' Section
- 5(a) used the same phrase (``No statement relating to
- smoking and health'') with regard to cigarette labeling. As
- 5(a) made clear, that phrase referred to the sort of
- warning provided for in 4, which set forth verbatim the
- warning Congress determined to be appropriate. Thus, on
- their face, these provisions merely prohibited state and
- federal rule-making bodies from mandating particular
- cautionary statements on cigarette labels (5(a)) or in
- cigarette advertisements (5(b)).
- Beyond the precise words of these provisions, this reading
- is appropriate for several reasons. First, as discussed
- above, we must construe these provisions in light of the
- presumption against the pre-emption of state police power
- regulations. This presumption reinforces the appropriate-
- ness of a narrow reading of 5. Second, the warning
- required in 4 does not by its own effect foreclose additional
- obligations imposed under state law. That Congress
- requires a particular warning label does not automatically
- pre-empt a regulatory field. See McDermott v. Wisconsin,
- 228 U. S. 115, 131-132 (1913). Third, there is no general,
- inherent conflict between federal pre-emption of state
- warning requirements and the continued vitality of state
- common law damages actions. For example, in the Compre-
- hensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of
- 1986, Congress expressly pre-empted State or local
- imposition of a ``statement relating to the use of smokeless
- tobacco products and health'' but, at the same time,
- preserved state law damages actions based on those
- products. See 15 U. S. C. 4406. All of these consider-
- ations indicate that 5 is best read as having superseded
- only positive enactments by legislatures or administrative
- agencies that mandate particular warning labels.
- This reading comports with the 1965 Act's statement of
- purpose, which expressed an intent to avoid ``diverse,
- nonuniform, and confusing labeling and advertising
- regulations with respect to any relationship between
- smoking and health.'' Read against the backdrop of
- regulatory activity undertaken by state legislatures and
- federal agencies in response to the Surgeon General's
- report, the term ``regulation'' most naturally refers to
- positive enactments by those bodies, not to common law
- damages actions.
- The regulatory context of the 1965 Act also supports such
- a reading. As noted above, a warning requirement promul-
- gated by the FTC and other requirements under consider-
- ation by the States were the catalyst for passage of the
- 1965 Act. These regulatory actions animated the passage
- of 5, which reflected Congress' efforts to prevent ``a
- multiplicity of State and local regulations pertaining to
- labeling of cigarette packages,'' H.R. Rep. No. 89-449, 89th
- Cong., 1st Sess., 4 (1965), and to ``pre-empt [all] Federal,
- State, and local authorit[ies] from requiring any statement
- . . . relating to smoking and health in the advertising of
- cigarettes.'' Id., at 5 (emphasis supplied).
- For these reasons, we conclude that 5 of the 1965 Act
- only pre-empted state and federal rulemaking bodies from
- mandating particular cautionary statements and did not
- pre-empt state law damages actions.
-
- V
- Compared to its predecessor in the 1965 Act, the plain
- language of the pre-emption provision in the 1969 Act is
- much broader. First, the later Act bars not simply ``state-
- ments'' but rather ``requirement[s] or prohibition[s] . . . im-
- posed under State law.'' Second, the later Act reaches
- beyond statements ``in the advertising'' to obligations ``with
- respect to the advertising or promotion'' of cigarettes.
- Notwithstanding these substantial differences in lan-
- guage, both petitioner and respondents contend that the
- 1969 Act did not materially alter the pre-emptive scope of
- federal law. Their primary support for this contention is
- a sentence in a Committee Report which states that the
- 1969 amendment ``clarified'' the 1965 version of 5(b). S.
- Rep. No. 91-566, p. 12 (1969). We reject the parties'
- reading as incompatible with the language and origins of
- the amendments. As we noted in another context, ``[i]nfer-
- ences from legislative history cannot rest on so slender a
- reed. Moreover, the views of a subsequent Congress form
- a hazardous basis for inferring the intent of an earlier one.''
- United States v. Price, 361 U. S. 304, 313 (1960). The 1969
- Act worked substantial changes in the law: rewriting the
- label warning, banning broadcast advertising, and allowing
- the FTC to regulate print advertising. In the context of
- such revisions and in light of the substantial changes in
- wording, we cannot accept the parties' claim that the 1969
- Act did not alter the reach of 5(b).
- Petitioner next contends that 5(b), however broadened
- by the 1969 Act, does not pre-empt common law actions.
- He offers two theories for limiting the reach of the amended
- 5(b). First, he argues that common law damages actions
- do not impose ``requirement[s] or prohibition[s]'' and that
- Congress intended only to trump ``state statute[s], injunc-
- tion[s], or executive pronouncement[s].'' We disagree;
- such an analysis is at odds both with the plain words of
- the 1969 Act and with the general understanding of
- common law damages actions. The phrase ``[n]o require-
- ment or prohibition'' sweeps broadly and suggests no
- distinction between positive enactments and common law;
- to the contrary, those words easily encompass obligations
- that take the form of common law rules. As we noted in
- another context, ``[state] regulation can be as effectively
- exerted through an award of damages as through some
- form of preventive relief. The obligation to pay compensa-
- tion can be, indeed is designed to be, a potent method of
- governing conduct and controlling policy.'' San Diego
- Building Trades Council v. Garmon, 359 U. S. 236, 247
- (1959).
- Although portions of the legislative history of the 1969
- Act suggest that Congress was primarily concerned with
- positive enactments by States and localities, see S. Rep. No.
- 91-566, p. 12, the language of the Act plainly reaches
- beyond such enactments. ``We must give effect to this plain
- language unless there is good reason to believe Congress
- intended the language to have some more restrictive
- meaning.'' Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U. S. 85, 97
- (1983). In this case there is no ``good reason to believe'' that
- Congress meant less than what it said; indeed, in light of
- the narrowness of the 1965 Act, there is ``good reason to
- believe'' that Congress meant precisely what it said in
- amending that Act.
- Moreover, common law damages actions of the sort raised
- by petitioner are premised on the existence of a legal duty
- and it is difficult to say that such actions do not impose
- ``requirements or prohibitions.'' See W. Prosser, Law of
- Torts 4 (4th ed. 1971); Black's Law Dictionary 1489 (6th ed.
- 1990) (defining ``tort'' as ``always [involving] a violation of
- some duty owing to plaintiff''). It is in this way that the
- 1969 version of 5(b) differs from its predecessor: Whereas
- the common law would not normally require a vendor to use
- any specific statement on its packages or in its advertise-
- ments, it is the essence of the common law to enforce duties
- that are either affirmative requirements or negative
- prohibitions. We therefore reject petitioner's argument that
- the phrase ``requirement or prohibition'' limits the 1969
- Act's pre-emptive scope to positive enactments by legisla-
- tures and agencies.
- Petitioner's second argument for excluding common law
- rules from the reach of 5(b) hinges on the phrase ``imposed
- under State law.'' This argument fails as well. At least
- since Erie R. v. Tompkins, 304 U. S. 64 (1938), we have
- recognized the phrase ``state law'' to include common law as
- well as statutes and regulations. Indeed just last Term, the
- Court stated that the phrase ``all other law, including State
- and municipal law'' ``does not admit of [a] distinction . . .
- between positive enactments and common-law rules of
- liability.'' Norfolk & Western R. Co. v. Train Dispatchers,
- 499 U. S. ---, --- (1991) (slip op., at 11). Although the
- presumption against pre-emption might give good reason to
- construe the phrase ``state law'' in a pre-emption provision
- more narrowly than an identical phrase in another context,
- in this case such a construction is not appropriate. As
- explained above, the 1965 version of 5 was precise and
- narrow on its face; the obviously broader language of the
- 1969 version extended that section's pre-emptive reach.
- Moreover, while the version of the 1969 Act passed by the
- Senate pre-empted ``any State statute or regulation with
- respect to . . . advertising or promotion,'' S. Rep. No.
- 91-566, p. 16, the Conference Committee replaced this
- language with ``State law with respect to advertising or
- promotion.'' In such a situation, 5(b)'s pre-emption of
- ``state law'' cannot fairly be limited to positive enactments.
- That the pre-emptive scope of 5(b) cannot be limited to
- positive enactments does not mean that that section pre-
- empts all common law claims. For example, as respondents
- concede, 5(b) does not generally pre-empt ``state-law
- obligations to avoid marketing cigarettes with manufactur-
- ing defects or to use a demonstrably safer alternative
- design for cigarettes.'' For purposes of 5(b), the common
- law is not of a piece.
- Nor does the statute indicate that any familiar subdivi-
- sion of common law claims is or is not pre-empted. We
- therefore cannot follow petitioner's passing suggestion that
- 5(b) pre-empts liability for omissions but not for acts, or
- that 5(b) pre-empts liability for unintentional torts but not
- for intentional torts. Instead we must fairly but-in light
- of the strong presumption against pre-emption-narrowly
- construe the precise language of 5(b) and we must look to
- each of petitioner's common law claims to determine
- whether it is in fact pre-empted. The central inquiry in
- each case is straightforward: we ask whether the legal
- duty that is the predicate of the common law damages
- action constitutes a ``requirement or prohibition based on
- smoking and health . . . imposed under State law with
- respect to . . . advertising or promotion,'' giving that clause
- a fair but narrow reading. As discussed below, each phrase
- within that clause limits the universe of common law claims
- pre-empted by the statute.
- We consider each category of damages actions in turn. In
- doing so, we express no opinion on whether these actions
- are viable claims as a matter of state law; we assume
- arguendo that they are.
-
- Failure to Warn
- To establish liability for a failure to warn, petitioner must
- show that ``a warning is necessary to make a product . . .
- reasonably safe, suitable and fit for its intended use,'' that
- respondents failed to provide such a warning, and that that
- failure was a proximate cause of petitioner's injury. Tr.
- 12738. In this case, petitioner offered two closely related
- theories concerning the failure to warn: first, that respon-
- dents ``were negligent in the manner [that] they tested,
- researched, sold, promoted, and advertised'' their cigarettes;
- and second, that respondents failed to provide ``adequate
- warnings of the health consequences of cigarette smoking.''
- App. 85-86.
- Petitioner's claims are pre-empted to the extent that they
- rely on a state law ``requirement or prohibition . . . with
- respect to . . . advertising or promotion.'' Thus, insofar as
- claims under either failure to warn theory require a
- showing that respondents' post-1969 advertising or promo-
- tions should have included additional, or more clearly
- stated, warnings, those claims are pre-empted. The Act
- does not, however, pre-empt petitioner's claims that rely
- solely on respondents' testing or research practices or other
- actions unrelated to advertising or promotion.
-
- Breach of Express Warranty
- Petitioner's claim for breach of an express warranty
- arises under N. J. Stat. Ann. 12A:2-313(1)(a) (West 1991),
- which provides:
- ``Any affirmation of fact or promise made by the
- seller to the buyer which relates to the goods and
- becomes part of the basis of the bargain creates an
- express warranty that the goods shall conform to the
- affirmation or promise.''
- Petitioner's evidence of an express warranty consists largely
- of statements made in respondents' advertising. See 893
- F. 2d, at 574, 576; 683 F. Supp. 1487, 1497 (NJ 1988).
- Applying the Court of Appeals' ruling that Congress pre-
- empted ``damage[s] actions . . . that challenge . . . the
- propriety of a party's actions with respect to the advertising
- and promotion of cigarettes,'' 789 F.2d, at 187, the District
- Court ruled that this claim ``inevitably brings into question
- [respondents'] advertising and promotional activities, and
- is therefore pre-empted'' after 1965. 649 F. Supp., at 675.
- As demonstrated above, however, the 1969 Act does not
- sweep so broadly: the appropriate inquiry is not whether
- a claim challenges the ``propriety'' of advertising and
- promotion, but whether the claim would require the
- imposition under state law of a requirement or prohibition
- based on smoking and health with respect to advertising or
- promotion.
- A manufacturer's liability for breach of an express
- warranty derives from, and is measured by, the terms of
- that warranty. Accordingly, the ``requirements'' imposed by
- a express warranty claim are not ``imposed under State
- law,'' but rather imposed by the warrantor. If, for exam-
- ple, a manufacturer expressly promised to pay a smoker's
- medical bills if she contracted emphysema, the duty to
- honor that promise could not fairly be said to be ``imposed
- under state law,'' but rather is best understood as under-
- taken by the manufacturer itself. While the general duty
- not to breach warranties arises under state law, the
- particular -requirement . . . based on smoking and health
- . . . with respect to the advertising or promotion [of]
- cigarettes- in an express warranty claim arises from the
- manufacturer's statements in its advertisements. In short,
- a common law remedy for a contractual commitment
- voluntarily undertaken should not be regarded as a
- ``requirement . . . imposed under State law'' within the
- meaning of 5(b).
- That the terms of the warranty may have been set forth
- in advertisements rather than in separate documents is
- irrelevant to the pre-emption issue (though possibly not to
- the state law issue of whether the alleged warranty is valid
- and enforceable) because although the breach of warranty
- claim is made ``with respect to advertising'' it does not rest
- on a duty imposed under state law. Accordingly, to the
- extent that petitioner has a viable claim for breach of
- express warranties made by respondents, that claim is not
- pre-empted by the 1969 Act.
-
- Fraudulent Misrepresentation
- Petitioner alleges two theories of fraudulent misrepresen-
- tation. First, petitioner alleges that respondents, through
- their advertising, neutralized the effect of federally man-
- dated warning labels. Such a claim is predicated on a
- state-law prohibition against statements in advertising and
- promotional materials that tend to minimize the health
- hazards associated with smoking. Such a prohibition,
- however, is merely the converse of a state law requirement
- that warnings be included in advertising and promotional
- materials. Section 5(b) of the 1969 Act pre-empts both
- requirements and prohibitions; it therefore supersedes
- petitioner's first fraudulent misrepresentation theory.
- Regulators have long recognized the relationship between
- prohibitions on advertising that downplays the dangers of
- smoking and requirements for warnings in advertisements.
- For example, the FTC, in promulgating its initial trade
- regulation rule in 1964, criticized advertising that ``asso-
- ciated cigarette smoking with such positive attributes as
- contentment, glamour, romance, youth, happiness . . . at the
- same time suggesting that smoking is an activity at least
- consistent with physical health and well-being.'' The
- Commission concluded:
- ``To avoid giving a false impression that smoking [is]
- innocuous, the cigarette manufacturer who represents
- the alleged pleasures or satisfactions of cigarette
- smoking in his advertising must also disclose the
- serious risks to life that smoking involves.'' 29 Fed.
- Reg., at 8356.
- Long-standing regulations of the Food and Drug Adminis-
- tration express a similar understanding of the relationship
- between required warnings and advertising that ``negates
- or disclaims'' those warnings: ``A hazardous substance shall
- not be deemed to have met [federal labeling] requirements
- if there appears in or on the label . . . statements, designs,
- or other graphic material that in any manner negates or
- disclaims [the required warning].'' 21 CFR 191.102 (1965).
- In this light it seems quite clear that petitioner's first
- theory of fraudulent misrepresentation is inextricably
- related to petitioner's first failure to warn theory, a theory
- that we have already concluded is largely pre-empted by
- 5(b).
- Petitioner's second theory, as construed by the District
- Court, alleges intentional fraud and misrepresentation both
- by ``false representation of a material fact [and by] con-
- ceal[ment of] a material fact.'' Tr. 12727. The predicate
- of this claim is a state law duty not to make false state-
- ments of material fact or to conceal such facts. Our pre-
- emption analysis requires us to determine whether such a
- duty is the sort of requirement or prohibition proscribed by
- 5(b).
- Section 5(b) pre-empts only the imposition of state law
- obligations ``with respect to the advertising or promotion'' of
- cigarettes. Petitioner's claims that respondents concealed
- material facts are therefore not pre-empted insofar as those
- claims rely on a state law duty to disclose such facts
- through channels of communication other than advertising
- or promotion. Thus, for example, if state law obliged
- respondents to disclose material facts about smoking and
- health to an administrative agency, 5(b) would not pre-
- empt a state law claim based on a failure to fulfill that
- obligation.
- Moreover, petitioner's fraudulent misrepresentation
- claims that do arise with respect to advertising and
- promotions (most notably claims based on allegedly false
- statements of material fact made in advertisements) are not
- pre-empted by 5(b). Such claims are not predicated on a
- duty ``based on smoking and health'' but rather on a more
- general obligation-the duty not to deceive. This under-
- standing of fraud by intentional misstatement is appropri-
- ate for several reasons. First, in the 1969 Act, Congress
- offered no sign that it wished to insulate cigarette manufac-
- turers from longstanding rules governing fraud. To the
- contrary, both the 1965 and the 1969 Acts explicitly
- reserved the FTC's authority to identify and punish
- deceptive advertising practices-an authority that the FTC
- had long exercised and continues to exercise. See 5(c) of
- the 1965 Act; 7(b) of the 1969 Act; see also nn.7, 9, supra.
- This indicates that Congress intended the phrase ``relating
- to smoking and health'' (which was essentially unchanged
- by the 1969 Act) to be construed narrowly, so as not to
- proscribe the regulation of deceptive advertising.
- Moreover, this reading of ``based on smoking and health''
- is wholly consistent with the purposes of the 1969 Act.
- State law prohibitions on false statements of material fact
- do not create ``diverse, nonuniform, and confusing'' stan-
- dards. Unlike state law obligations concerning the warning
- necessary to render a product ``reasonably safe,'' state law
- proscriptions on intentional fraud rely only on a single,
- uniform standard: falsity. Thus, we conclude that the
- phrase ``based on smoking and health'' fairly but narrowly
- construed does not encompass the more general duty not to
- make fraudulent statements. Accordingly, petitioner's
- claim based on allegedly fraudulent statements made in
- respondents' advertisements are not pre-empted by 5(b) of
- the 1969 Act.
-
- Conspiracy to Misrepresent or Conceal Material Facts
- Petitioner's final claim alleges a conspiracy among
- respondents to misrepresent or conceal material facts
- concerning the health hazards of smoking. The predicate
- duty underlying this claim is a duty not to conspire to
- commit fraud. For the reasons stated in our analysis of
- petitioner's intentional fraud claim, this duty is not pre-
- empted by 5(b) for it is not a prohibition ``based on
- smoking and health'' as that phrase is properly construed.
- Accordingly, we conclude that the 1969 Act does not pre-
- empt petitioner's conspiracy claim.
-
- VI
- To summarize our holding: The 1965 Act did not pre-
- empt state law damages actions; the 1969 Act pre-empts
- petitioner's claims based on a failure to warn and the
- neutralization of federally mandated warnings to the extent
- that those claims rely on omissions or inclusions in respon-
- dents' advertising or promotions; the 1969 Act does not pre-
- empt petitioner's claims based on express warranty,
- intentional fraud and misrepresentation, or conspiracy.
- The judgment of the Court of Appeals is accordingly
- reversed in part and affirmed in part, and the case is
- remanded for further proceedings consistent with this
- opinion.
- It is so ordered.
-