Tobacco.org

HARRIS: DC Circuit affirms Phillip Morris case giving major victory for plaintiffs in tobacco suits nationwide  

On May 22, 2009, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in large part one of the most damning verdicts ever rendered against the tobacco industry. . . .

Mirroring Judge Kessler's findings is the equally damning case of Engle v. Liggett et al. [PDF file]. Originally brought by Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt in Miami-Dade Circuit Court as a national class action in 1994, later reduced to a statewide class in 1996, a jury ultimately returned a record punitive damage award against the tobacco companies in the amount of $145 billion following a year-long trial. . . .

While the Florida Supreme Court took away the punitive damage award and decertified the class, like the DC Appeals Court, it let stand the Engle jury's unprecedented findings that the tobacco companies committed fraud, were negligent and concealed from consumers the addictive nature and dangers of smoking in order to sell more cigarettes. . . .

Having closed both the federal and state loops on tobacco companies' wrongdoing, the task of tobacco trial lawyers in Florida and elsewhere is to enlighten juries and even judges about the depth of the tobacco industry's deceit. As a Florida personal injury attorney representing 157 Engle progeny clients, the Appeal Court's ruling has just made the challenge of overcoming juror bias against smokers that much easier.

Also known as the “"you screwed up by trusting us" defense, tobacco companies continue to blame smokers for the sickness and death caused by addiction to nicotine. . . .

For those who are sick and dying, and for those whose families carry on the battle in their absence, the Engle and DC Appeal Courts' rulings stand as monuments to transparency that will provide beacons of hope and truth to all who think the deck is stacked against them, that the system is broken and that they could have stopped smoking had they only chosen to do so."

Jump to full article »