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CVN’s video cameras have covered the gavel-to-gavel action of nearly every Engle progeny trial — litigation spun from a massive Florida class action against the nation’s tobacco companies. And over the years, our Engle cards have honored many of the best lawyers involved in those high-stakes cases. This week’s release in our newest Engle card series features a tobacco defense attorney with a stellar winning record through six years of Engle trials.

Strong closing rebuttals often combine memorable rhetorical devices with a counterpunch that both undercuts a defense’s argument and bolsters the plaintiff’s own case. In a groundbreaking trial against Monsanto over the cancer allegedly caused by the agrichemical giant’s weed killer, Brent Wisner used a strong rhetorical hook as part of a closing rebuttal that helped secure a nine-figure verdict for his client.

For more than a decade, the nation’s best tobacco attorneys have faced off in courtrooms across Florida as part of the state’s unique Engle progeny litigation. And in that time CVN has covered more than 200 Engle progeny trials, from the very first openings in 2008 to the latest trials this year.

In 2011 we first introduced our Engle Trading Cards to spotlight the best attorneys and provide a lighthearted way to track statistics in the ongoing litigation.  The cards have proven so popular over the years that we're bringing them back with a new, 4th edition collection. 

Creative demonstratives can powerfully frame an argument. However, attorneys sometimes shy away from using creative demonstratives in bench trials, perhaps out of fear of annoying the judge trying the case. In closings against Johnson & Johnson over its alleged role in Oklahoma’s opioid epidemic, however, Bradley Beckworth’s “game show” memorably framed key evidence during a long bench trial, and helped lead to a nine-figure judgment. 

In a med mal trial’s battle of the experts, sometimes it’s what an expert doesn’t say that may swing  a verdict. At trial against a California physician over his off-label use of a spinal implant, Dennis Ames cleared his client with a closing that turned the spotlight on what one expert never said.