Jump to full article: Jacksonville (FL) Daily Record, 2004-05-18
Author: Richard Prior Staff Writer
Intro: Norwood “Woody” Wilner will be busier than usual over the next few weeks, helping fortify a class action dream that is two steps away from becoming reality.
Admittedly, those are two large steps. The Florida Supreme Court first, with the U.S. Supreme Court undoubtedly waiting in the wings. But the payoff is enormous — $145 billion. If finally approved, it would be the largest victory in the history of the world for any product liability, said Wilner, of Spohrer Wilner Maxwell & Matthews.
At stake is a final judgment in the case of Engle v. Liggett Group Inc., a class action suit originally filed in 1994 in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on behalf of six lead plaintiffs and 700,000 additional Florida smokers. . . .
Wilner will file briefs in support of the Rosenblatts by the June deadline. Oral arguments will be heard Oct. 6. . . .
Wilner estimated that close to 5,000 of Spohrer Wilner’s clients are members of the class action. The firm gets about 30 calls every day from people who may become clients.
Wilner said that, despite a handful of victories over the tobacco industry, it has been “a very, very hard battle” for the dozen or so years he’s been involved. . . .
“Do the smokers have enough in common?” Wilner asked. “Just the fact of smoking ought to be enough.
“If you’re in a bus accident, and the bus goes down a ravine, that’s a typical class, even though somebody hit their head and somebody broke their leg.”
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