The Florida Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal yesterday made by RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. following a $28.3 million jury verdict in 2009.   The court upheld the verdict in a one-page order, denied jurisdiction, and noted, “no motion for rehearing will be entertained by the Court.”  RJ Reynolds had […]

Big Tobacco receives two pieces of news that, well, is going to really not make for a merry Christmas this year. Clearly a classic of “beware what you wish for my friend, for surely you shall receive it!” Every time a jury finds against Big Tobacco, their talking heads come […]

Bronson, Florida –(November 15, 2010).  Florida law firm Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley PA announced today that a jury has awarded $80 million to the daughter of an Engle class member who died from lung cancer after a sixty year addiction to nicotine in the cigarettes of R.J. Reynolds […]

On April 14, 2010, SDSBS attorneys Bill Norton, Brian Denney and Hardee Bass won a $21 million verdict against Big Tobacco for their clients in Escambia County Florida for the wrongful death of Janie Mae Clay.  The jury awarded $3.4 million for compensatory damages to the statutory survivors, Teddy Clay, […]

It seems clear that it is not clear… or is it the things we know do not include the unknowns…or is it the things we don’t know are known unknowns? In any event, based on comments I have seen in blogs, one thing is clear: the public does not understand […]

Those Big Tobacco guys are at it again. Do they not care for Florida juries, Florida judges, or the Florida Supreme Court? At the least, Big Tobacco does not like the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in the “Engle” cases. These cases stem from a class, which was decertified by the […]

As thousands of Post-Engle cases wind their way through the Florida court system, Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds, Lorillard and Liggett & Myers are facing daily challenges.  After years of priding themselves on winning most of  the lawsuits filed against them through historic “scorched earth” tactics, it appears that those […]

First, let me start with a disclaimer of sorts. I admire people who have professions I wish I had; writers, for example. I admire someone who can combine words on a page and make me think or help me escape. I thought, though, that if you chose to write non-fiction […]

In Alachua County, located in the middle of the Sunshine State, a jury heard evidence from Big Tobacco in defense of deceased smoker. They rendered verdicts totaling $16 million against Big Tobacco. The jury did not believe Big Tobacco. The spin, the deceit, or the rewriting history apparently did not […]

Ya gotta love those guys at Big Tobacco. Deny, deny, deny. If that doesn’t work, spin, spin, spin. If that doesn’t work, try reinventing history. In Florida, jurors have been hearing the truth about Big Tobacco antics over the years; and deny, spin, and lies is no longer working for […]