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Atlanta, GA— Jurors Friday cleared an Atlanta-area jazz club of fault for a fall that a patron claimed left her with serious back and hip injuries. Spencer-Smith v. Volunteer Restaurant Associates, et al., 17EV000950.

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Miami, FL— A Florida smoker died of cancer after decades of believing tobacco marketing concerning filtered cigarettes, an attorney for the man’s family said Wednesday, as trial opened against the country’s two largest tobacco companies. Fields v. Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, 2008-CA-1274. 

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Boston, MA— Jurors Wednesday handed down a $21 million verdict against Philip Morris for the role it found the tobacco giant played in a Massachusetts smoker’s death. Laramie v. Philip Morris, 17CV02240. 

The most successful defenses often go beyond simply arguing broken links in a plaintiff’s case. Typically, they also persuasively raise an alternate causation theory in which the defendant is not liable. At trial over a long-time smoker’s death, Kathryn Lehman’s closing argument masterfully employs that strategy to help clear one of the nation’s largest tobacco companies of liability. 

Here at Courtroom View Network we spend all day watching real-world courtroom video featuring some of the best civil trial attorneys in the country. For a lighthearted, late summer change of pace, we decided to take a break from that and rank our all time favorite fictional courtroom scenes from the silver screen.