http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/lawsuit/engle.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://www.leagle.com/unsecure/page.htm?shortname=inflco20100317136 http://tobacco.org/news/298714.html PER CURIAM. Affirmed. Engle v. Liggett Group, Inc., 945 So. 2d 1246, 1276-77 (Fla. 2006); Hendry v. Zelaya, 841 So. 2d 572, 575 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003). Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing. Leagle Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=61229 http://tobacco.org/news/298706.html 9-year-old products liability case produced a major victory over tobacco companies Wednesday when the 3rd District Court of Appeal upheld a $24.8 million award to a man who died of cancer shortly after trial. 3rd DCA opinion The appellate panel offered no legal reasoning in its unsigned one-paragraph decision in John Lukacs’ case against cigarette makers Philip Morris USA, Brown & Williamson and Liggett Group. The unanimous opinion by Judges Richard Suarez, Angel Cortiñas and Vance Salter is the first appellate ruling upholding a verdict since the Florida Supreme Court dismantled a smoker class action and opened the door to individual trials. . . . The 3rd DCA decision cited the Supreme Court ruling, which allowed smokers to pursue individual lawsuits and offer the original jury’s findings as fact. New juries are advised to accept that smoking causes cancer and other illnesses, cigarettes are addictive and tobacco companies defrauded consumers by misleading them. “It sends a clear message that Engle is the guiding light in Florida tobacco litigation,” Rogow said. floridabiz.com FL_Marketing@alm.com (Jose Pagliery ) Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.searcylaw.com/blog/uninformed-friends-of-big-tobacco/ http://tobacco.org/news/298656.html A Palm Beach Post reporter wrote in yesterday's paper something about which he clearly knows little or nothing. The title was: "What part of 'hazardous' don't smokers get?" This is a story criticizing smokers and casting judgment on those smokers who have sued Big Tobacco; the "Engle" plaintiffs. It seems evident to me this reporter clearly spent no time researching and brought an entire collection of "baggage" into his article. The only tangible piece of information the reporter provides is that his parents smoked and "…they were lifelong slaves to -- and, ultimately, victims of -- the habit." This statement certainly demonstrates facts, but completely misses the mark on any shred of insight. The reporter apologizes for knocking "a possibly dying woman as she struggles for her next breath", but he clearly knows nothing about the case, trial, or facts of the lawsuit filed by Cindy Naugle. This reporter also must have no respect for the intelligence of jurors who after hearing weeks of evidence, must have been outraged by the conduct of Big Tobacco, causing them to render a $300 million verdict. All of this demonstrates at least one central issue. Before "dashing off" this article, want of any facts, the reporter could not have done even a modicum of research. Before criticizing an entire class of people, perhaps he should try researching and reading, just a little. . . . For those who who want to know facts about Big Tobacco and not hyperbole, I recommend the following sites: Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley PA / Attorneys at Law Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.palmbeachpost.com/health/what-part-of-hazardous-dont-smokers-get-361670.html http://tobacco.org/news/298472.html Cigarette smoking has always baffled me, even though both my late parents were lifelong slaves to -- and, ultimately, victims of -- the habit. . . . Live and let live, right? Well, not anymore. Not since I read a few weeks ago about a Miami jury awarding longtime smoker Cindy Naugle (sister of former Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle) $300 million in damages (later reduced by the judge to $39 million) in her lawsuit against Phillip Morris USA. (The case is under appeal.) The 61-year-old Naugle's brand of choice: Benson & Hedges (same as my dad). According to The Associated Press report, Naugle has "advanced emphysema, cannot breathe without an oxygen bottle and needs a lung transplant." Hate to knock a possibly dying woman as she struggles for her next breath -- but what part of the printed warning "The surgeon general has determined that smoking may be hazardous to your health" (which first appeared on cigarette packs in the U.S. in 1966 and has since had its wording expanded to include "cancer") did she not understand? . . . But for those born after World War II: If you're a smoker, that's on you -- as the consequences of your personal choices should be. And one final warning for pending smoking litigants: Should any of your lawsuits prove successful, don't be surprised if someone sues you for having spread all that secondhand smoke. Palm Beach Post boomerhealth@pbpost.com (Steve Dorfman Palm Beach Post staff writer) Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:00:00 GMT http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100313/ARTICLES/3131007/1002 http://tobacco.org/news/298369.html An Alachua County jury has awarded a total of $17.5 million in damages to Amanda Jean Hall, who sued the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company after the death of her husband. It was, attorneys said, the largest single civil verdict in the county, topping the previous high award of $10 million. . . . Attorney Mark Avera asked jurors to consider the net worth of R.J. Reynolds in determining punitive damages. In fiscal year 2007, it was $8.88 billion; in fiscal year 2008, it was $7.9 billion. "Send a message to RJR's boardroom that they will be held accountable for their poor choices," he said. Speaking on behalf of the tobacco company, attorney Dennis Murphy said RJR's corporate management "has heard your message, and we accept your verdict on compensation." The "old guard" of the firm is now gone, he said, and the message being put out by R.J. Reynolds has changed. "Don't punish the company just for making profits," he said. Gainesville Sun chund@gvillesun.com ( Diane Chun Staff writer) Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://info.courtroomview.com/Blog/bid/35643/Plaintiff-Wins-Tobacco-Trial-Phase-1-Liability http://tobacco.org/news/298366.html Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld read the verdict this afternoon in Cohen v. RJ Reynolds. The jury found that Nathan Cohen had lung cancer, and that cigarette smoking was the legal cause of his lung cancer and death. CVN will provide a live webcast of Phase 2 of the Cohen v. RJ Reynolds trial, starting tomorrow morning at 9:30am Eastern Time. Courtroom View Network Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100312/ARTICLES/3121008/1002/NEWS01?Title=Jury-awards-5-million-in-Gainesville-trial-against-R-J-Reynolds http://tobacco.org/news/298362.html A jury in Alachua County has awarded $12.5 million in punitive damages to Amanda Jean Hall in her suit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. The jury returned with this finding on Friday afternoon. . . . Attorneys for the Hall family were asking for $15 million dollars in compensatory damages. Also key to the case was the question of whether the tobacco company concealed or omitted information regarding the dangerous health effects of cigarettes. . . . Speaking for the tobacco company, attorney Dennis Murphy said the case was indeed about choices but should focus on the personal choices made by Lamar Hall, who began smoking at 14 and continued for 38 years. "Mr. Hall's death could not be proven to be caused by smoking," Murphy said in his closing statement, noting that Hall was aware of the risks, he could have quit smoking and nothing R.J. Reynolds did had any effect on his behavior. He also suggested that Hall's lung cancer could be a result of the 30 years he spent working as a carpenter. The evidence, Murphy contended, shows that Hall was 100 percent responsible for his actions, and the tobacco company had no such responsibility. Hall died in 1995; his death certificate lists the cause of death as lung cancer. Gainesville Sun chund@gvillesun.com ( Diane Chun Staff writer) Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100311/ARTICLES/100319895 http://tobacco.org/news/298361.html After ten days of testimony, the case brought by the widow of a Gainesville-area man against the tobacco corporation R.J. Reynolds went to the jury at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday. A panel of eight jurors are asked to decided whether Arthur Lamar Hall was addicted to cigarettes containing nicotine and if that was the cause of his death from lung cancer in 1995. Also key to the case is the question of whether the tobacco company concealed or omitted information regarding the dangerous health effects of cigarettes. The evidence, Murphy contends, shows that Hall was 100 percent responsible for his actions, and the tobacco company had no such responsibility. . . . Speaking for the tobacco company, attorney Dennis Murphy said the case was indeed about choices but should focus on the personal choices made by Lamar Hall, who began smoking at 14 and continued for 38 years. "Mr. Hall's death could not be proven to be caused by smoking," Murphy said in his closing statement, noting that Hall was aware of the risks, he could have quit smoking and nothing R.J. Reynolds did had any effect on his behavior. He also suggested that Hall's lung cancer could be a result of the 30 years he spent working as a carpenter. Gainesville Sun chund@gvillesun.com ( Diane Chun Staff writer ) Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100303/ARTICLES/3031006 http://tobacco.org/news/297866.html In the case being tried before Circuit Judge Robert Roundtree in Gainesville, Hall contends that her husband, Arthur, a lifelong smoker, became addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes. Arthur Hall died in 1995; his death certificate lists the cause of death as lung cancer. The case is the first to be heard in north central Florida after a landmark ruling by the Florida Supreme Court in 2006. . . . Attorney Rod Smith summarized the family's case for a jury of six women and two men. He said Arthur Hall, born in 1938, took up smoking at the age of 14 and continued for most of his life. He tried numerous times to quit but was unsuccessful until 1994, just a year before his death. Cigarette manufacturers knew there was a defect in their product that made it addictive, but did not publicly admit it, Smith told jurors. Even though they knew about the dangers, the suit contends, tobacco companies concealed information from smokers about the impact of cigarettes on their health. First to testify for the plaintiff, Smith said, will be an expert on addictions. Speaking on behalf of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., attorney Dennis Murphy told jurors, "This case is about Mr. Hall. That is one thing both sides can agree on." He warned that it is not about sympathy, adding "you must decide the case on its facts." "The case is not about whether smoking can be addictive," he said. "It can be. But not everyone who smokes becomes addicted." . . . In summary, Murphy said, "We know Mr. Hall could quit smoking because he did quit smoking." . . . "The conduct of R.J. Reynolds tobacco company had no effect on Mr. Hall." Gainesville Sun chund@gvillesun.com (Diane Chun Staff writer ) Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://cbs4.com/local/smoking.smokers.cigaretts.2.1517775.html http://tobacco.org/news/297551.html A South Florida woman who sued Phillip Morris will get a substantial payout from the company, but she won't receive the record amount of cash that she was originally supposed to get. Broward Circuit Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld cut the $300 million penalty levied against the tobacco giant in Cindy Naugle's lawsuit to $39 million. Streitfeld called the original penalty excessive and said that the evidence in the case did not support it. WFOR CBS4 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100315/wiener http://tobacco.org/news/297550.html Last summer Robert Proctor, a Stanford professor who studies the history of tobacco, was surprised to receive court papers accusing him of witness tampering and witness intimidation, along with a subpoena for his unfinished book manuscript. Then in January he got another subpoena, this one for three years of e-mails with a colleague, and also for his computer hard drive. Attorneys for R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris USA are trying to get him barred from testifying in a Florida court as an expert witness on behalf of a smoker with cancer who is suing the companies. . . . Proctor hadn't tampered with any witnesses; all he had done was e-mail a colleague at the University of Florida asking about grad students there who were doing research for Big Tobacco's legal defense. But he's had to hire his own lawyers and spend days in depositions, defending himself from the charges. He told me he had recently spent "sixteen hours under oath, twelve lawyers in a room overlooking San Francisco Bay, a million dollars spent on deposing me and going after these e-mails." There's a reason Big Tobacco would like to keep Proctor out of the courtroom. He's one of only two historians who currently testify on behalf of smokers with cancer--while forty historians have testified on behalf of the tobacco industry. . . . In these cases, history has become a key component in the tobacco attorneys' defense strategy. In the past, when smokers with cancer sued for damages, the companies said they shouldn't have to pay, because there was a "scientific controversy" about whether smoking causes cancer. But in recent years they have given up that argument and now argue something like the opposite: "everybody knew" smoking causes cancer. So if you got cancer from smoking, it's your own fault. To persuade juries, they need historians--experts who, for example, can testify that newspapers in the plaintiff's hometown ran articles about the health hazards of smoking in the 1940s or '50s or '60s, when he or she started. So Big Tobacco has been spending a lot of money hiring historians--and is stepping up the harassment of Proctor. . . . The charges of witness tampering and witness harassment concerned history grad students at the University of Florida who had been hired to do research for Big Tobacco by Gregg Michel, a historian at the University of Texas, San Antonio. Proctor learned about the grad students from Michel's deposition. (Michel did not respond to requests for an interview.) "I e-mailed a colleague at the University of Florida asking about this," Proctor said--Betty Smocovitis, a historian of science. "She wrote back and said she was horrified. Said it couldn't be true. Then she found that it was." . . . Given the deception practiced by Big Tobacco, how are the historians who work for tobacco attorneys able to blame the smokers? As they admit under cross-examination by plaintiffs' attorneys, in their "research," they fail to examine the most important source of information on the history of smoking: the archives of the tobacco manufacturers and their public relations firms, which are readily available online at tobaccodocuments.org , , , Why, over the past fifteen years, have forty historians wanted to help Big Tobacco? I asked a dozen historians on Kyriakoudes's and Proctor's lists. Virtually all declined to be interviewed, including Otis Graham, emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman of San Diego State; and Terry Parssinen of the University of Tampa, . . . Historians earn big money working for Big Tobacco: Stephen Ambrose, who taught at the University of New Orleans and was famous for writing bestsellers about D-Day, Lewis and Clark, and Eisenhower as a World War II general, was asked in a deposition why he was testifying for the companies. His answer was brief: "for compensation." Tobacco companies paid him $25,000 for just one case in 1994, according to Laura Maggi in The American Prospect. (Ambrose, a smoker, died of lung cancer in 2002, when he was 66.) The Nation rights@agenceglobal.com ( Jon Wiener ) Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/business/local/article/B-PHIL25_20100224-211805/326670/ http://tobacco.org/news/297475.html A Florida judge yesterday slashed damages against Philip Morris USA that a jury awarded last November. The Henrico County-based cigarette-maker should pay $38.9 million to former smoker Lucinda Naugle, instead of the $300 million the jury awarded, Broward County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey E. Streitfeld of Broward County Circuit Court ruled yesterday. The judge said the evidence in the trial did not support the jury's award and found that its verdict was excessive. Richmond Times-Dispatch dress@timesdispatch.com (David Ress) Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9E2QKOG0.htm http://tobacco.org/news/297467.html Concluding a jury was moved by emotion rather than hard evidence, a judge on Wednesday reduced $300 million in damages awarded to a Florida smoker against Philip Morris USA to nearly $39 million. Broward Circuit Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld ruled jurors in November granted 61-year-old Cindy Naugle a "grossly excessive" amount of punitive and non-economic damages. Naugle, a longtime Benson & Hedges smoker, has advanced emphysema, cannot breath without an oxygen bottle and needs a lung transplant, according to trial testimony. The $300 million had been the highest damage award so far among thousands of lawsuits filed by Florida smokers against tobacco companies. Streitfeld said he is convinced jurors were unduly swayed by Naugle's poor health and what he called Philip Morris' trial strategy of attacking the smoker while refusing to admit past wrongdoing. "I must conclude the jury was moved by passions -- sympathy for Cindy's suffering and anger towards (Philip Morris') conduct and strategy," Streitfeld said in his order lowering the total to $38.9 million. . . . But her attorney, Robert Kelley, said he will try to get a state appeals court to reverse Streitfeld's decision. "I don't understand why he would set aside the hard work and effort this jury put in," Kelley said. "Why should we accept it?" AP Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&tkr=MO%3AUS&sid=amBelivplris http://tobacco.org/news/297465.html A Florida judge reduced an almost $300 million verdict against Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA unit to $38.9 million in a lawsuit brought by a former smoker who suffers from emphysema. “The court found that the jury’s verdict was grossly excessive and unsupported by the evidence presented at trial,” the cigarette maker said today in an e-mailed statement. A Fort Lauderdale jury last year awarded Cindy Naugle $56.6 million in compensatory damages and $244 million in punitive damages. The jury found Naugle was 10 percent responsible for her injuries and reduced the compensatory damages by that amount. . . . Philip Morris also said it will appeal, saying that no damages were warranted. Bloomberg News epettersson@bloomberg.net (Edvard Pettersson) Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://www.courtroomview.com/proceedings/cohen-v-rj-reynolds-trial-2010-03-01 http://tobacco.org/news/297349.html Description:4 week Engle progeny tobacco liability jury trial. Trial - 03/01/10 Case Number:07-11515 . . . 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida Judge: Streitfeld, Jeffrey Courtroom View Network Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT