The New York Times reports, “R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, one of the country’s biggest cigarette makers, must pay $46.3 million to the widow of a Florida man who died from lung cancer in 1995, a jury in Gainesville, Fla., decided Wednesday.”
“In the last 60 years, there have been numerous lawsuits against cigarette companies, and most all of them have been won by the cigarette companies,” says ACSH’s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. “What we’ve seen over the last few years is that there has really been a disincentive for plaintiffs’ lawyers to take cases against cigarette companies since they almost always lose.
“But today in Florida, the balance has shifted and the legal environment is more favorable to plaintiffs seeking damages from cigarette companies. There have been over a dozen victories for the plaintiffs that have gone to a jury verdict since the Florida Supreme Court decertified a class-action lawsuit in 2006 and allowed individual lawsuits to proceed.”
Dr. Ross adds, “Moreover, the class-action lawsuit -- although it was decertified -- was adjudged to have established certain facts about the addictive nature of smoking, and the disease-causing effects of cigarettes, which will not have to be re-argued. This is a major advantage for the plaintiffs. The cigarette companies will have thousands of cases like this to deal with, and the tables have turned to some extent toward the sick smokers and their survivors.”