The first tobacco trial of what is termed the “Engle” plaintiffs has resulted in a total verdict for Mrs. Hess and her son in th eamount of $8 million. Big Tobacco’s lawyers, once again, attempted to shift all the blame away from themselves and against Mr. Hess. The jury apparently […]

Today a jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida found that a long time smoker, Stuart Hess, really was addicted to cigarettes. If you can imagine, Big Tobacco’s lawyers marched into the courtroom and argued that cigarettes were not addictive or, in the alternative, cigarettes were not addictive to Mr. Hess. Mr. […]

A novel lawsuit is winding its way through the courts in St. Louis.  Thirty Missouri hospitals are pursuing claims against Altria (the parent company of Phillip Morris) and other tobacco manufacturers for the costs of medical care provided to patients with tobacco-induced diseases who were uninsured or unable to pay […]

What is Big Tobacco doing in the Florida tobacco litigation now? They are sending out teams of lawyers and investigators to track down and interview each smoker’s sons, daughters, grandchildren, Aunt Mary, Uncle Bob, the third cousin twice removed, the neighbors, the neighbors neighbors—you get the idea.

So, what is Big Tobacco doing these days in the Florida “Engle” litigation? Are they aggressively trying to bring cases to trial so they can be vindicated? Are they conducting important investigation and discovery in an effort to further justice? Ah, not so much. I speak with clients each day […]

In 1995, David Kessler, former head of the Food and Drug Administration tried to regulate nicotine. His efforts failed when the regulations were struck down in the federal court system. Then, in 2004, the United States Senate passed proposed legislation to do so, only to have the House of Representatives […]

Joe Camel and his Big Tobacco crew crash landed in front of the US Judicial Panel on Mul-District Litigation. Big Tobacco had sought to convince the panel that all cases filed or removed to federal court should all be sent to multi-district litigation.

First it was the Engle case. You may remember that this is the case in which the Florida Supreme Court vacated a punitive damage verdict against Big Tobacco in the amount of $145.8 billion. The Supreme Court, however, also ruled that thousands of Florida smoking victims could file individual lawsuits […]

In the wake of a Florida Supreme Court ruling affirming that Big Tobacco purposely deceived the public about the dangers of smoking, research funded by tobacco companies has, understandably, become suspect. Tobacco-sponsored research outcomes are not merely grist for the rumor mill; Big Tobacco has actually been convicted of using […]

Never underestimate Big Tobacco. Stalled by recent court rulings affirming their lethal deception of the American public, cigarette companies decided to make an end run. In the face of state court verdicts against cigarette manufacturers (such as the Florida Supreme Court’s decision that nicotine is addictive, that cigarettes cause cancer, […]