Jump to full article: Associated Press (AP), 2010-01-27
Author: GREG BLUESTEIN The Associated Press
Intro: A group of Florida smokers asked a federal appeals court Tuesday not to force each of them to prove that smoking causes illness in the thousands of individual lawsuits moving through federal court.
Such a ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals would mean that the more than 4,000 plaintiffs wouldn't need extensive -- and costly -- expert testimony to prove to each jury that their nicotine addiction caused lung cancer and other diseases.
Tobacco companies, meanwhile, asked the three-judge panel to conclude that the trials don't begin with an assumption that the industry acted with negligence and that their products were defective. Attorney Andrew Frey said that each plaintiff should be required to prove that point in court.
"That's the issue that's really before you today -- can the plaintiffs simply say negligence is established?" said Frey.
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