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VIDEO: Greene strikes back ... quickly  

Meltdown mogul Jeff Greene returns fire at Kendrick Meek with a pair of attack ads charging corruption, including one spot claiming that Meek "pushed the subprime loans" that "wrecked our economy." (And incidentally, helped Greene make his fortune.)

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VIDEO: Jeff Greene Hits Kendrick Meek in Two New Commercials 

A day after U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek ran his first commercial, attacking Jeff Greene, his leading rival for the nod, in the bitter contest for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, the Greene campaign fired back by unleashing two commercials against Meek on Tuesday.

Greene took a page from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), who included Meek among a list of the most crooked politicians running for office.

"CREW named career politician Kendrick Meek a ‘crooked’ candidate for giving federal taxpayer dollars to indicted developer Dennis Stackhouse, who hired Meek's mother as a consultant, gave her an Escalade, and provided money to a high-level Meek aide,” said Greene, taking off the gloves. “It's time that voters know Kendrick Meek is a crooked and corrupt Washington politician.” . . .

"Meek helped a cigar-maker lobby to block higher cigar taxes that would finance children's health care, while receiving thousands from the tobacco industry, and he opposed reducing Medicare costs while receiving more than $40,000 from Medicare suppliers," added Greene.

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• Jeff Greene attacks Kendrick Meek for cigar ties 

Congressman Kendrick Meek relishes a good cigar -- Padrons are his favorite, he told Cigar Aficionado magazine in a 2008 profile. He hosts an annual cigar party and is known to hand out cigars to members of Congress and their staff, and the cigar industry has helped fund his recent campaigns, the magazine reported. Padron Cigars, a longtime family business, is headquartered in Little Havana in Miami.

Meek's U.S. Senate Democratic primary opponent, Jeff Greene, attacks Meek for his ties to the tobacco industry in a campaign flier accusing Meek of standing with special interests.

Specifically, Greene wrote in a campaign flier that hit mailboxes around July 23, 2010, that Meek was "#1 in Florida in taking tobacco cash and then opposed a tax on cigars that would have helped pay for children's health care." Greene this week introduced a new TV ad that stated "Meek lobbied for big tobacco against children's health care."

We decided to examine the campaign flier. Did Meek rake in more money from the tobacco industry than anyone else in Florida and then oppose a tax on cigars that would pay for children's health care? . . .

Meek was clearly No. 1 in tobacco donations among Florida candidates for House or Senate in his 2008 race and 2010 race and is at the top among Florida's members in the House and Senate. But Greene's flier didn't specify that the No. 1 label applied only to federal races and there is no simple way to check the tobacco dollars given to candidates across the state for various offices.

Greene also claimed that Meek "opposed" a tax on cigars that would have paid for children's health care. Meek thought that the 2007 version was too high of an increase for businesses and he scored key meetings for a cigar maker with member of Congress, but he voted for the legislation anyway -- twice that year. Meek again voted for the version that passed in 2009 when the cigar industry credited him with helping reduce the amount of their tax burden. We recognize he worked to lower the amount of the tax, but we think it's misleading to say that Meek "opposed" a tax when he voted for it three times. . . .

We considered both parts of Greene's claim and rate it Barely True.

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Smokers still smoking 

It's been about a month since UF's campus-wide tobacco ban went into effect, and so far it doesn't seem like much has changed.

The ban, effective since July 1, is intended to promote healthy lifestyles on campus and discourage the use of any tobacco products, even smokeless tobacco like snuff or electronic cigarettes.

All students, faculty, visitors and construction workers are within the ban's breadth.

However, while that seems all encompassing, the ban has one major flaw - it's difficult to enforce.

Capt. Jeff Holcomb, public information officer for the UF police department, said it's hard to gauge the ban's effectiveness because it's not punishable like a law, but remains just a policy.

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BRIEF: Volunteers needed for Thursday cigarette butt cleanup  

As part of its 2010 campaign to reduce litter in Jacksonville, members of the Keep Jacksonville Beautiful Commission will participate in a Cigarette Butt Litter Scan to document and clean up cigarette butts from city streets and neighborhoods from 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday on the Northbank Riverwalk

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Appeals Court Limits Use of Jury Findings by Tobacco Plaintiffs 

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a significant tobacco-related decision on Thursday, ruling that jury findings from a previous tobacco lawsuit can be applied to new cases, but only if the plaintiffs prove that they apply.

The ruling concerned factual findings from Engle v. RJ Reynolds, a Florida class action brought on behalf of consumers who smoked before warning labels were required on cigarette packages. In that case, the jury concluded that the cigarettes smoked by the plaintiffs were defective and addictive, and that the manufacturer failed to properly disclose the danger of smoking to consumers.

The Florida Supreme Court eventually decertified the Engle class but allowed individual plaintiffs to file suit by January 2008. As a result, nearly 4,000 such cases are now working their way through Florida federal courts.

In its decision, the court said that the findings “must be given the same preclusive effect in this federal court case that they would be given if the case were in state court.”

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• BROWN v. R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO COMPANY 

The bottom line, then, is that the Phase I approved findings may be given effect to the full extent of, but no farther than, what the jury found. The disagreement is about what the jury actually did find. The defendants, taking a narrow view, insist that the only facts found by the jury are those framed by the specific factual issue set out in the questions posed to them on the verdict form. The plaintiffs, by contrast, take a broader view of what facts the jury decided, arguing that the language of the questions, and hence the jury’s answers, can and should be fleshed out using the record as a whole and apparently by going outside the record.

For example, Question 3 on the verdict form asked the jury: “Did one or more of the Defendant Tobacco Companies place cigarettes on the market that were defective and unreasonably dangerous?” The jury answered “yes,” for every time period for every defendant except Brooke Group, Ltd., Inc. 8 Under the defendants’ view, the only fact that the jury found was that they sold some cigarette that was defective and unreasonably dangerous during the time periods listed on the verdict form. That would mean that the finding may not establish anything more specific; it may not establish, for instance, that any particular type

8 The jury found that Brooke Group, Ltd., Inc., sold cigarettes that were defective and unreasonably dangerous after July 1, 1974, but not before that date. of cigarette sold by a defendant during the relevant time period was defective and unreasonably dangerous. . . .

We leave it to the district court to apply Florida law as we have outlined it and decide in the first instance precisely what facts are established when preclusive effect is given to the approved findings. . . .

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Largo considers tobacco-free hiring : Largo Leader - Tampa Bay Newspapers 

Largo officials are moving toward being the first of the large municipalities in Pinellas County to establish a tobacco-free hiring policy.

They say that hiring people who don't smoke is a proactive policy, affecting future medical claims.

"In this day and age when we are looking at managing our health-care claims, we thought that it would be important at this point in time to propose this tobacco-free hiring policy," said Susan Sinz, Largo human resources director, at a July 6 commission meeting.

She pointed out that smoking causes a loss in employee productivity.

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No-smoking signs to start appearing in Indian River County parks 

Signs encouraging the public to go smoke free in public parks will be appearing throughout Indian River County, as part of a $50,000 Tobacco and Chronic Disease Intervention grant to the Health Department.

“We need to keep the message out there,” said Tina Zayas, who coordinates the Healthy Communities, Healthy People program for Indian River County. “It’s important to remind our residents that smoking is not good for you and they certainly shouldn’t be smoking in public places.”

The signs, which are considered to be advisory and do not carry an enforcement component such as fines, are available to park officials as well as local businesses, Zayas said. The grant provides up to $5,000 for signage as part of the stop smoking component.

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VIDEO: Royal Palm Beach widow recalls efforts to quit smoking in trial against tobacco giants 

To quit smoking, Margaret Piendle and her late husband tried every trick they could. They threw away ash trays, chewed gum, jammed toothpicks and straws in their mouths and munched on candy.

But decades passed and their efforts to quit failed again and again, Piendle told a jury today.

By the time her husband, Charles Piendle of Royal Palm Beach, finally kicked the habit for good he was 48 - and 7 years from death by lung cancer.

Margaret Piendle is now suing tobacco giants R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, alleging they are to blame for her husband's untimely death.

Her legal team must convince a jury that Charles Piendle was addicted to cigarettes and that cigarette makers' attempts to conceal the risks of smoking contributed to his addiction.

In sometimes-tearful testimony today, Piendle recalled her dead husband and their mutual struggles to quit smoking.

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• New smoking fee may help to kick the habit 

Beginning in the fall, a $50 per semester surcharge will be added to the university health insurance plan of students who smoke.

Students will need to fill out a form on myUM stating whether they are a smoker. Those who confirm that they are smokers, as well as those who do not fill out the form, will be charged the $50.

This will be the first year that students will be charged an additional fee for smoking. University of Miami staff and faculty have been paying a smoking surcharge since 1992.

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Smoking fine spurs theft of hotel flat-screen; irked guest nabbed with TV in rental car 

Nicholas Edward Nelson wasn't a model guest during his stay at the Fairfield Inn.

First, the hotel at 2780 S. Ocean Blvd. fined the West Virginia man $250 for smoking in his room, tacking the extra charge onto the bill slipped under the door.

Nelson, 30, was so upset that he retaliated by stealing a $500 flat-screen television from the hotel's workout room, Palm Beach police said.

But some quick detective work by police and a hotel employee led to Nelson's arrest Friday on a charge of grand theft.

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Ruling Gives Tobacco Lawsuits New Life  

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed a lower court decision and will allow a previous jury's finding against several tobacco companies be allowed in consideration of a pending class-action suit involving more than 3,800 Florida plaintiffs.

Among the prior jury findings were those that said tobacco defendants were negligent and made a defective product.

The individual suits against Altria Group Inc.) and other tobacco companies, including Reynolds American Inc., came up after a court ruling several years ago that decertified the class-action case, but allowed individual cases within a stipulated period time.

Separately, there are several thousand cases against the tobacco companies pending in state courts in Florida.

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• Federal court rules in Fla. smoker cases 

"On balance, it's less helpful to the plaintiffs," said University of Richmond law professor Carl W. Tobias.

The key issue that the ruling addressed was what a Florida Supreme Court ruling in 2006 meant when it quashed a $145 billion class action lawsuit against the tobacco industry in the so-called Engle case. . . .

The smokers and families argued the findings simply should be accepted as applying to their cases, as is the practice in similar cases in the Florida state courts.

"We leave it to the district court to . . . decide in the first instance precisely what facts are established when preclusive effect is given to the approved findings," the appeals court ruled.

It said the lower courts decide the exact scope of the factual issues in the findings -- whether, for instance, a finding that the companies made defective and dangerous products over several years meant all cigarettes are defective or, if not, whether a specific smoker's brand was defective.

Until the lower courts decide that, it is too early to say whether the findings prove any smoker's or family's claim, the appeals court said.

This finding overturns a lower court ruling that the findings cannot be used to preclude the smokers' and families' need to establish any element of their claims.

The issue had put federal cases by former class action participants on ice. . . .

Edward L. Sweda, senior attorney for the Tobacco Control Resource Center at Northeastern University in Boston, described yesterday's ruling as favorable for plaintiffs.

"It does provide a green light to go forward for the plaintiffs in federal court," he said. "They have the opportunity to show that the jury's findings [in the class action case] can be and should be applied to their own cases in federal court. The plaintiffs are in much better position than they were if the circuit court had upheld the order from the district court."

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11th Circuit's tobacco ruling leaves both sides claiming victory in Jacksonville cases  

"We believe that this is a victory for the thousands of injured smokers who have been denied their day in court for over a decade," plaintiff's attorney Woody Wilner of Wilner Hartley & Metcalf in Jacksonville wrote in a news release. He said the 11th Circuit upheld the right of litigants to rely on the previous jury findings and rulings by the Florida Supreme Court.

But tobacco giant Philip Morris said in its own release that the ruling actually restricts the plaintiffs' use of the Engle jury's conclusions.

"We are pleased that the appellate court has rejected arguments by plaintiffs that they have an automatic and unlimited right to use the findings," the release says. "In the court's own words, plaintiffs have a 'considerable task' to show with 'reasonable certainty' that the facts they want to establish were 'actually decided' by the prior jury."

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