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Tobacco Cases Resource Center
Tobacco Cases in a Nutshell.
In December 2006 the Florida Supreme Court breathed new life into a case against the tobacco industry that had worked its way through the courts since 1994. The case is known as the Engle case.
The supreme court upheld a landmark jury verdict finding Big Tobacco liable for smoking-related injuries and deaths, but the court said that smokers and their loved ones must bring individual suits in order to prove that smoking harmed them and to prove their individual damages. The deadline for filing Engle lawsuits now has passed.
In addition to such lawsuits being brought, Big Tobacco created a fund that was paid out to qualifying class members. The deadline for participating in the distribution of that fund also has passed.
Levin Papantonio is in the forefront of the fight against Big Tobacco.
What Exactly Does the Engle Case Mean?
After a year-long trial, the Engle jury found that:
- Cigarettes are unreasonably dangerous;
- Cigarettes cause numerous types of cancer;
- Nicotine is addictive;
- Big Tobacco has acted negligently; and
- Even though they knew about these dangers, tobacco companies intentionally concealed information from consumers about the impact of cigarettes on their health.
The jury also found that smoking causes (among other diseases):
- Lung cancer;
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD);
- Emphysema; and
- Buerger's disease
The Florida Supreme Court upheld all of these findings and said that in any individual Engle suits, these jury findings would apply and would not have to be proven again. Florida's trial courts have followed this ruling and applied the findings in each of the trials thus far.
The Florida Supreme Court also did the following:
- Reversed a jury's award of $145 billion in punitive damages against the tobacco industry.
- Opened the door for separate, individual Engle suits - rather than a class action lawsuit - which then would be decided on the basis of each victim's own unique circumstances, case by case.
- Limited the group of tobacco victims eligible to file individual Engle suits to all Florida citizens and residents, and their survivors, who have suffered, presently suffer or who have died from diseases and medical conditions caused by their addiction to cigarettes that contain nicotine with a cutoff date of November 21, 1996.
Although the Engle decision refused to reinstate a $145 billion punitive damage award against Big Tobacco, it opened the door for individual Engle suits to be brought. All such suits now have been filedabout 8,000--and are working their way through the courts.
In Escambia County, all cases (approximately 80) have been coordinated before Chief Judge Terry Terrell. Judge Terrell organized the cases so that the most elderly plaintiffs would obtain the earliest trial dates. Levin Papantonio lawyers Bobby Loehr and Matt Schultz tried and won the first such case in May 2009. Since then, three more trials have taken place. All have averaged three to four weeks in length, and all resulted in substantial verdicts for plaintiffs.
Here you will find links to fact sheets and other information provided by public health authorities and public interest groups:
Smoking and Kids: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0001.pdf
Tobacco Use Among Youth: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0002.pdf
How Parents Can Protect Their Kids: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0152.pdf
Big Tobacco Still Addicting Kids: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/addicting/
Women and Girls and Tobacco: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0137.pdf
Camel No. 9 Cigarette-Marketing Campaign Targeted Young Teenage Girls: http://www.cafeiowacan.org/docs/Camel-No-9-Pediatric-Study.pdf
Big Tobacco's Guinea Pigs: http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/products/
IN THE NEWS: Tobacco related articles
- Levin Papantonio attorney Robert Loehr argues before the First District Court of Appeal
July 20, 2010
The first Engle progeny appeal in the State of Florida---R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Martin - You may view it by searching for Martin at : http://www.1dca.org/video/2010.htm
- Fla. Suit Claims Tobacco Companies Get Break on Bonds Before Appeals
law.com , 2010-06-04
A team of plaintiffs attorneys is challenging the constitutionality of a Florida law capping appellate bonds for cigarette makers when they lose smoker lawsuits. The 2003 law, which benefits tobacco giants Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard, stands in stark contrast to the rules governing all other lawsuit losers, who must post a bond equal to the judgment against them plus twice the normal rate of interest. - Tobacco giants Reynolds, Philip Morris & Lorillard claim graphic NYC Smoking Posters Go Too Far
nydailynews.com , 2010-06-03
Three tobacco giants are suing the city over graphic anti-smoking posters that stores selling cigarettes have to post near the cash register. R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris and Lorillard claim the color images of cancer-ravaged lungs, a decayed tooth and a stroke-damaged brain are "unappetizing" and violate the First Amendment. - U.S. cigarette brands tops in cancer causing chemicals
blogs.cnn.com , 2010-06-01
Smokers of U.S. brand cigarettes may get more bang for their buck in the worst way according to a small study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers found U.S. made cigarettes contain more cancer-causing chemicals than some cigarettes brands made elsewhere around the world. Not all cigarettes are made alike says Dr. Jim Pirkle, deputy director for science at the CDCs National Center for Environmental Health. He says this is the first study to show that U.S. cigarettes have more of the major carcinogen [TSNAs] than foreign made cigarettes." TSNAs are tobacco-specific nitrosamines, the major cancer-causing substance in tobacco. - Altria Group reaffirms 2010 guidance at meeting
Associated Press , 2010-05-20
Cigarette maker Altria Group Inc. reaffirmed its full-year outlook at its annual shareholder meeting Thursday.
CEO Michael Szymanczyk told shareholders he was pleased the company had strong results and shareholder returns despite the tough operating environment.The Richmond-based owner of nation's biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, reaffirmed its fiscal 2010 guidance for adjusted earnings per share to range from $1.78 to $1.82. The forecast includes estimated charges of about 7 cents per share related to one-time items including acquisitions and integration costs. - Florida emerges as center of tobacco litigation universe
St. Petersburg (FL) Times, 2010-05-09
The pace of tobacco litigation in Florida is fast and furious these days. And ever since tobacco industry defense attorneys scored two wins in this state in 2009, the verdicts -- 13 in a row and counting -- have turned against Big Tobacco. - Cigarette Cos Burned By Recent Setbacks In Tiny Tobacco Suits
Dow Jones News Service, 2010-03-30
Thousands of small lawsuits, remnants of a failed class action case, are turning into a lingering headache for the U.S. tobacco industry. - Fla. Court Upholds $24 Million Verdict Against Tobacco Companies
Law.com, 2010-03-19
A 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. - Big Tobacco Prostitutes and the Distortion of American Justice
Democratic Underground, 2010-03-17
Paying expert witnesses huge sums of money to testify in one's behalf makes a mockery of the idea of justice. It entices them to shade the truth or outright lie in favor of their masters, thereby distorting our system of justice. . - Big Tobacco and the Historians
The Nation, 2010-02-25
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. - Tobacco Company Marketing To African Americans
Foster Folly News (Chipley, FL), 2010-02-22
The following was issued by the Washington County Health Department) "We don't smoke that s_ _ _. We just sell it. We reserve the right to smoke for the young, the poor, the black and stupid." R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Executive - LP Client Obtains $9.2M Jury Award Against RJ Reynolds
Law360, New York (Feb 09, 2010)
By Erin Marie Daly -- A Florida jury has ordered R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to fork over $9.2 million in damages to a woman whose husband died of lung cancer after smoking for nearly 50 years, finding that the tobacco giant fraudulently concealed information relating to the health effects of cigarettes. - Lively Arguments in Tobacco Case Center on Preclusive Effect of Factual Findings
Law.com, 2010-01-27
In a lively and complex Gordian Knot of an argument before a federal appeals court on Tuesday, lawyers for the nation's largest tobacco companies wrangled with attorneys for a woman whose husband died of lung cancer over whether factual findings in a 2006 Florida state case may be applied in some 4,000 federal death and injury suits. - Stanford Historian Robert Proctor vs. R.J. Reynolds: A Lot on the Line
PR Watch, 2009-11-02
History is unkind to tobacco companies, and never more so than since a federal court in 2006 found the industry guilty of perpetrating 50 years of fraud and deceit upon the American people. It's a sordid history to live down, and maybe that's why R.J. Reynolds is harassing one of the few historians who has been willing to step up and testify in court about the real history of the tobacco industry's behavior: Professor Robert N. Proctor of Stanford University. - Florida Kids Can Breathe Easier as Flavored Cigarettes Get the Boot
Public News Service (PNS) , 2009-09-28
Federal regulators now have more authority to control what goes into cigarettes, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is flexing its new muscle by banning most flavored cigarettes from being made, imported, distributed or sold in the United States. Such spice flavors as cloves are now forbidden, as are fruit and candy flavors, though menthol is exempt from the ban. - Not for Sale: Big Tobacco's Sweet Tooth for Addiction
Wakulla News (Crawfordville, FL), 2009-09-23
Did you know that the tobacco companies are continuing to fool our children into getting hooked on tobacco at an early age? All of the tobacco companies are making tobacco products with cool and tasty favors and with vibrant colors to draw our children attention. Here is a list of a few of the products on the shelves: * RJ Reynolds, who formerly used cartoon character Joe Camel to market their products, has a new line of flavored Camel cigarettes with names like Twista' Lime, and seasonal flavored cigarettes like Bayou Blast Mardi Gras Berry Blend. - RJ Reynolds Ordered To Pay Smoker's Widow $30M
Law360, New York (June 02, 2009)
A Florida jury has ordered R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to hand over $30 million to a Florida widow whose husband died of lung cancer in 1995, in one of the first of many similar product liability and wrongful death suits against Big Tobacco to go to trial. -
Florida Tobacco Cases Filed
Law360 New York, NY - Jan 11, 2008
Levin Papantonio attorney Matt Schultz is interviewed about recent lawsuit filings following the Supreme Court tobacco class action decision RJ Reynolds v. Engle. - Judge Orders Tobacco Companies to Stop Deceiving Foreign, US Consumers
eMaxHealth.com, NC - Mar 17, 2007
Today's ruling underscores the potential of this case, brought by the US Department of Justice, to fundamentally change the tobacco industry's harmful ... -
Get serious and allow FDA to regulate cigarettes
Indianapolis Star - Indianapolis, IN - Mar 5, 2007
This year an attempt will be made to correct that oversight with legislation enabling the FDA to neutralize some of the tobacco industry's attempts to win ... -
Tobacco regulation back under spotlight
MSNBC - USA - Feb 27, 2007
Yet the tobacco industry appears split on the proposal. Philip Morris USA, the US unit of Altria group, is strongly in favour of the proposal, ... -
Tobacco's time has come
Toledo Blade - Toledo, OH - Feb 26, 2007
Henry Waxman, Democrat of California, a veteran foe of the tobacco industry. His Republican co-sponsor, Rep. Tom Davis, of the tobacco state of Virginia, ... -
Experts: FDA tobacco bill long overdue
Earthtimes.org - USA - Feb 23, 2007
By KRISTIN BILLERA The US Food and Drug Administration may finally exercise control over the tobacco industry if a reintroduced bill passes through Congress ... -
Report: Program leads to drop in teen smoking
WWAY NewsChannel 3, NC - Feb 13, 2007
...Initiative of the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund. The fund was established with North Carolina's share of tobacco lawsuit settlement money. -
Tobacco industry pressure keeps cheap smokes available to military
UCSF News Office - San Francisco, CA, USA - Feb 12, 2007
Based on their examination of tobacco industry documents, searches of military websites and news databases, and interviews with principal informants, ... . -
'NO THANKS, BIG TOBACCO'
New York Islanders, NY - Feb 5, 2007
"Sponsorship and charity is an increasingly important marketing tool for the tobacco industry," said Susan Kennedy, Director of the Tobacco Action Coalition... - 01-22-07: Editorial: Big Tobacco sinks its hook
The Harvard School of Public Health releases a study that tobacco companies not only increased nicotine levels, but the industry had modified cigarettes' design to encourage smokers to take more drags from each cigarette. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, head of the federal government's racketeering lawsuit against the U.S. tobacco industry, wrote that all defendants in the case "continue to fraudulently deny that they manipulate the nicotine delivery of their cigarettes in order to create and sustain addiction." - 01-19-07: Oversight of Tobacco Will Be Pushed by Kennedy
Senator Ted Kennedy will reintroduce a bill calling for regulations of the tobacco industry. The bill would put the FDA in charge of regulating the tobacco advertising, packaging, and content. - 01-18-07: Nicotine in US cigarettes rising - study
A Harvard researcher commented cigarette makers increased nicotine in tobacco and altered the cigarette design to boost the number of puffs per cigarette, which increases the amounts of nicotine inhaled by smokers. Although, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention considers cigarette smoking the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, there are about 440,000 people that die each year smoking related illnesses. - 12-13-06: Reynolds speaks against tobacco industry at forum
Patrick Reynolds, grandson of tobacco company founder R.J. Reynolds, has witnessed the deaths of his father and brother to tobacco related illnesses which has pushed him to speak out against the tobacco industry. He will be speaking at the “Save Lives, Saves Money” Jackson Community Forum. - 09-24-06: Tobacco industry may face new regulations
After reported raised nicotine levels, misrepresentation of cigarette brand types, "light," "ultra," "low tar," the tobacco industry could be looking at regulation changes. Congress may try to put the tobacco industry under the Food and Drug Administration, which would allow cigarette regulation on tobacco companies. - 09-22-06: Guest commentary: Tobacco companies continue deception
Tobacco companies claim studies reporting an increase of nicotine in cigarettes have not showed the rise and fall in nicotine levels between '98-'04 and that nicotine levels "vary naturally." Tobacco companies are accused of deceiving smokers as some nicotine levels reached as high as 36 percent in "light" cigarettes. - 09-18-06: Tobacco needs federal remedy
More people say Congress and the Food and Drug Administration should get involved in regulating the tobacco industry. Tobacco companies are misleading the public about smoking hazards with their "deceptive labeling and nicotine-loading practices". - 09-05-06: Big Tobacco, Lawless as Ever
The tobacco industry is making the news again as the Department of Public Health reported a ten percent nicotine increase from cigarettes. In addition, tobacco companies asked the courts to treat the United States and oversee marketing efforts separate. - 09-01-06: TFK: Tobacco Companies Ask Court to Allow Them to Deceive Foreign Consumers
Shortly after tobacco companies were found falsely using the terms "low tar," "light," "ultra light," "mild," and "natural," British American Tobacco and Philip Morris tobacco companies filed for an allowance to continue using these terms. - 08-30-06: U.S. report: More nicotine in cigarettes
Recent study shows nicotine levels in cigarettes are on the rise as simulated smoking tests cigarettes over the years. Up from 1998, 93 percent of the 179 cigarette brands tested in 2004 fell into the “highest range for nicotine.”