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• LIGGETT v. DAVIS (PDF) 

We initially accepted jurisdiction to review Liggett Group, Inc. v. Davis, 973 So. 2d 467 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007), a decision in which the Fourth District Court of Appeal certified two questions to be of great public importance. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. However, upon further consideration, we have determined that we should exercise our discretion to discharge jurisdiction. Accordingly, this review proceeding is dismissed.

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• $500,000 Award Upheld Against Liggett Group 

In a decision that could change the way future tobacco liability suits are brought in Florida, the 4th District Court of Appeal affirmed a Broward Circuit Court jury's award of $500,000 against Liggett Group but certified an additional question for the Florida Supreme Court to decide.

Joining the 4th DCA panel as an associate judge, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hogan Scola wrote that Broward Circuit Judge David Krathen erred when he allowed a jury to consider a claim that Liggett was negligent in continuing the manufacture of cigarettes. . . .

Edward L. Sweda, senior attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University in Boston, characterized the ruling as a victory.

Sweda said the ruling will provide “some guidance for plaintiffs’ attorneys bringing similar claims throughout Florida. Obviously they can concentrate on design defects.”

The small victory the panel handed tobacco companies by not allowing manufacturer negligence claims did not bother Sweda’s organization.

“We would expect that the vast majority of lawsuits would not be brought solely on that one ground,” he said.

But the panel upheld the jury's verdict on the grounds the jurors properly considered a second design defect claim.

This, Scola noted, is an open question under Florida law, a question she certified for the Florida Supreme Court and one she also sought to answer herself in the opinion. "We find no case which holds that a plaintiff is required to show a safer alternative design in order to prevail on a strict liability design defect claim," she wrote.

Longtime smoker Beverly Davis sued Liggett in 2002, after she was diagnosed with lung cancer

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• Brooklyn Tobacco Trial Delayed as Appeals Court Reviews Rulings 

Opening statements, scheduled to begin today in a New York state court in Brooklyn, were postponed so an appellate court can review a judge's rejections of motions for summary judgment in the case.

Judge Herbert Kramer, who sent the jurors home until Oct. 2, also threw out several of the Davis family's claims against Philip Morris, including allegations that implied and express warranties were breached, said company spokesman Michael York. Kramer didn't dismiss those charges against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., York said. . .

Davis was 50 when he died in 1996. Lawyers for his family say the tobacco companies are liable because they committed fraud and designed a faulty product.

Cigarette makers claim the illnesses could have been caused by something other than cigarettes and that Davis was aware of the health risks of smoking.

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• Tobacco Companies Ready Defense in Brooklyn Trial (Update1) 

Philip Morris Cos. and other U.S. cigarette makers are scheduled to begin defending themselves Monday in a Brooklyn courtroom from charges that their products caused a long-time smoker's fatal illnesses.

The case brought by the family of Jeffrey Davis, who was 50 when he died in 1996, is the latest in a string of lawsuits across the country that have sought to hold tobacco companies liable for the illnesses of individual smokers.

Tobacco companies have enjoyed overwhelming success in these individual smokers' lawsuits . . .

``The individual cases are the price of doing business -- a nuisance,'' said Bonnie Herzog . . .

The latest Brooklyn trial will be an encore performance for the Davis family's attorney Leonard Fitz, who argued the case that failed in June. Presiding over the trial will be Judge Herbert Kramer, who also handled the earlier case.

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The individual [tobacco liability] cases are the price of doing business -- a nuisance.
Bonnie Herzog, an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston. McQuillen, W.<I>Tobacco Companies Ready Defense in Brooklyn Trial (Update1)</I>