Tobacco.org

• DeLand woman follows up court ruling with tobacco suit 

A DeLand bail bondswoman who smoked cigarettes for more than 35 years -- even after she had a cancerous part of her lung removed -- on Thursday became the first local person to file an individual lawsuit against tobacco companies since the Florida Supreme Court made it easier to do so.

Linda Jones, 55, smoked up to three packs a day of Kools, Dorals, Marlboro Lights or Viceroy Lights from the time she was 16. She tried unsuccessfully to quit for years, trying patches, nicotine gum and other products, but continued smoking even after she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2004.

"I had to make a decision," she said in her lawyer's office Thursday afternoon. "Do I want to smoke, or do I want to breathe?"

Jones, who owns Alliance Bail Bonds, needs a machine to help her breathe some of the time. She quit smoking a year ago and is suing cigarette companies Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, along with the now defunct Tobacco Institute, claiming the companies participated in "unlawful, misleading and fraudulent conduct" by deceiving the public about -- and concealing as part of a civil conspiracy -- the harmful effects of smoking.

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