AFP - US tobacco companies and an industry trade group have filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court against a class action lawsuit that awarded 270 million dollars to half a million smokers.

In the appeal filed Thursday, tobacco companies including Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds argued that the Louisiana suit wrongly aggregated "disparate, highly individualized claims" spanning 50 years into one claim to recover costs of smoking cessation programs.

The tobacco companies and trade group argue the Louisiana court used the "unorthodox" procedure of filing a class-action suit to get around examining individuals' specific claims.

"The end result was a 270-million-dollar judgment requiring defendants to pay for smoking-cessation services for every member of the class even though no class member ever proved the established elements of his or her individual claim or confronted any individual defenses," the appeal said.

"The handling of this case by the Louisiana courts represents a profound departure from 'traditional' procedure."

The only two members of the class-action lawsuit who were called to testify at the trial had already quit smoking, the tobacco companies said in their appeal to the Supreme Court in Washington.

In September, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia granted the tobacco companies a temporary stay against the Louisiana court's decision, saying it was important to consider "the extent to which class treatment may constitutionally reduce the normal requirements of due process."

Scalia also said that there was "national concern over abuse of the class-action device."

The Supreme Court is currently weighing whether to take up a case brought by retail giant Wal-Mart, which questions the constitutionality of a class action case brought against the discount chain by some 1.5 million women employees alleging discrimination.