Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that all cigarettes sold in Massachusetts are defective
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Edward L. Sweda, Jr. or Mark Gottlieb 617-373-8462 or 617-373-2026 2010 Verdict Reflected Juror Outrage at Handouts of Free Cigarettes to Children. The SJC today unanimously rejected Lorillard Tobacco Co.’s attempt to evade liability in a case brought by Willie Evans, whose mother Marie died in 2002 at the age of […]
Big Victory at Florida Supreme Court is Bad News for Cigarette Manufacturers
Florida smokers and their families who are suing tobacco companies won a resounding victory on March 14, 2013 when the Supreme Court of Florida upheld its landmark 2006 ruling in Engle v. Liggett Group, Inc., 945 So.2d 1246 (Fla. 2006). By a vote of 6 to 1, Florida’s highest court ruled in favor of the […]
Supreme Court Rejects Key Tobacco Industry Appeal Leaving “Massive Liability . . . with no End in Sight.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Edward L. Sweda 617-373-8462 Tobacco companies face the prospect of having to pay billions of dollars in liability to Florida smokers after the U.S. Supreme Court today denied Reynolds American’s petition for certiorari in the case of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Mathilde Martin, No. 11-754. The company had appealed a […]
Canadian Class Action Lawsuits Seek Billions of Dollars from Major Tobacco Companies
Two historic class action lawsuits that were filed in 1998 finally reached trial on March 12, 2012 in Montreal. The cases, Cecilia Letourneau v. JTI_Macdonald Corp., Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. and Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. and Conseil quebecois sur le tabac et la santé and Jean-Yves Blais v. JTI-Macdonald Corp., Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. […]
Jury in Miami Assesses $25 Million in Punitive Damages Against Tobacco Firm in an Engle Progeny Trial
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Edward L. Sweda, Jr. (617) 373-8462 A Florida state jury today assessed $25 million in punitive damages against Lorillard Tobacco Co. for its reprehensible misconduct involving the lung cancer death of Coleman Alexander. His widow Dorothy, a retired nurse who brought a wrongful death lawsuit against the company, was awarded $20 […]
Federal Judge Blasts RJ Reynolds for Providing a “Wholly Inaccurate Description of the Trial Record” and Upholds Multi-Million Dollar Verdict
For Immediate Release Contact: Edward L. Sweda, Jr. (617) 373-8462 U.S. District Court Judge Stefan R. Underhill on Friday denied R.J. Reynolds’ motion for a new trial or for judgment as a matter of law in the case of Izzarelli v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Barbara Izzarelli smoked Salem King cigarettes for 25 years until […]
Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds hit by $40 million verdict in Florida this week
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Edward L. Sweda, Jr. or Mark Gottlieb 617-373-8462 or 617-373-2026 A Jacksonville, Florida jury this week assessed $34 million in punitive damages against tobacco giants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. for their reprehensible misconduct in the case of Andy Allen v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al. This award […]
$17.3 million verdict against Lorillard in Jacksonville, FL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Edward L. Sweda, Jr. or Mark Gottlieb (617)373-8462 or (617)373-2026 A jury awarded the family of a smoker who died of lung cancer in 1994 at the age of 63 a total of $6 million in compensatory damages. The jury assessed Lorillard Tobacco Company 65% responsibility for the death of Jacqueline […]
Florida jury Returns multi-million verdict against tobacco companies
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Contact: Edward L. Sweda (617-373-8462) or Mark Gottlieb (617-373-2026) A jury in Gainesville, Florida today assessed punitive damages in the amount of $1.5 million against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) and another $1.5 million against Philip Morris (PM) in an Engle Progeny case. The same jury on Tuesday night awarded the […]
Eurpoean Commission Publishes PHAI Collaboration on Tobacco Liability and the Health Costs of Smoking
In December, 2009, PHAI, working under a contract to GHK along with Dr. Amandine Garde of Durham Law School (U.K.), produced a Report to the European Commission on the topic of tobacco liability and the health costs of smoking which has just been published by the Commission. It is hoped that the Report will encourage […]
