Ex-Smoker Wins Against Philip Morris

[tonysam]

Source: New York Times

Legal experts predict that thousands of tobacco lawsuits could gain momentum in Florida after a Fort Lauderdale jury ordered Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million to a former smoker who says she needs a lung transplant.

If it survives an appeal, the verdict late Thursday would be the nation’s largest award of damages to an individual suing a tobacco company and could encourage thousands of plaintiffs who have filed similar cases in Florida, according to Clifford E. Douglas of the University of Michigan Tobacco Research Network.

A state supreme court ruling in Florida a few years ago made it easier to pursue tobacco lawsuits there than in other states. But the tobacco industry, which plans to appeal, appeared unfazed. Tobacco companies have considered product liability suits as little more than a cost of doing business since the seven biggest companies agreed to pay $206 billion in a master settlement agreement with 46 states in 1998.

Florida, despite being one of those states, had a major legal ruling in 2006 that lowered a plaintiff’s burden of proof against a tobacco company.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/business/21smoke.html?_r=1&hp

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. Shut 'em the fuck down

Then once it's established that it can be done to an evil powerful industry, move on to the "defense" industry, the insurance criminals, the oil companies, MonSatan, the Whore Media, etc.

[izquierdista]

2. Oh you're no fun anymore

If we follow your advice, we'll all be living simple lives tending our vegetable gardens, wearing handmade natural fiber clothes, and listening to Prairie Home Companion.


Hmmmm...


Where do I sign up?

[gratuitous]

3. Great

But there will be about eight years of appeals through the state appellate courts, up to the U.S. Supreme Court for another bitch session about punitive damages, probably back to Florida state system once or twice, and it can get bounced anywhere along the line. The good news, though, is that the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't seem inclined right now to mess around with punitive damages awards.