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• Appeals court reinstates Birmingham family's tobacco lawsuit 

The family of a woman who died after 35 years of smoking will have the opportunity to sue cigarette manufacturers under a federal appeals court order reinstating the family's lawsuit.

A district judge in Birmingham originally dismissed the suit filed by Paul Spain, whose wife Carolyn died in 1999 of lung cancer. But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to review the case and, after receiving advice about Alabama law from the state Supreme Court, ruled Monday that elements of the suit should proceed.

"It accomplishes getting us to trial, and we've got quite a bit of work to do in advance of that," Spain's attorney, Clay Ragsdale, said of the ruling.

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