Smokers have been granted the right by the US Supreme Court to sue Altria Group and other tobacco companies over claims their marketing tactics for “light” cigarettes are deceptive.

The five-four ruling, which opens Altria’s Philip Morris and its peers to a spate of litigation, affirms an appellate court decision that federal cigarette labelling laws preventing states from enacting additional smoking regulations was not a reason to prevent a lawsuit from proceeding in a Maine district court.