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Ohio County Judge Scraps Major Cigarette Lawsuit Trial Plan
Jump to full article: Charleston (WV) State Journal, 2004-06-24
Author: JULIET A. TERRY
Intro: A massive personal injury lawsuit involving about 1,100 sick or deceased West Virginia smokers suing the nation's largest cigarette makers may be back to square one.
Ohio County Circuit Judge Arthur M. Recht has ruled a U.S. Supreme Court opinion renders moot the West Virginia case's trial plan, in place since early 2000. The decision could force lawyers to start from scratch.
Plan is Unworkable
"In constructing the extant case management order, this court was motivated by a desire to formulate a trial plan that could achieve a speedy resolution of the plaintiffs' claims and still accommodate the defendants' entitlement to due process. The majority holding in Campbell just will not permit the trial to proceed in the manner that it is now formulated," Recht said in the opinion he entered June 16. "The case management order entered Jan. 11, 2000, is hereby vacated and set aside, to be reformulated at a future hearing."
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