Stock photo. 

Decatur, GA—Attorneys debated whether decades of job-related orthopedic stress or a rear-end collision caused a Snellville exterminator’s shoulder injury, as trial began Tuesday against the woman who crashed into him. Rush v. Mealor, 14A52556.

Alex Alvarex delivers his closing argument during the punitive phase of trial against Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds over the cancer and respiratory disease Mary Howles claims was caused by the companies' deceit. Jurors Tuesday imposed a $6 million punitive award, following the $4 million in compensatories they awarded a day earlier. 

Fort Lauderdale, FL—A South Florida jury imposed a $6 million punitive verdict on R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris yesterday, completing a $10 million damage award against the tobacco giants for their role in a former nurse’s cancer and respiratory disease. Howles v. R.J. Reynolds, 2007-CV-034919.

Naples, FL—Jurors Monday concluded a former real estate broker's nearly $9 million suit against R.J. Reynolds was time barred, despite their finding nicotine addiction fueled a half-century-long smoking habit that has now tied her to an oxygen tank. Kloppenburg v. R.J. Reynolds. 

Fort Lauderdale, FL—Jurors Monday found the nation’s two largest tobacco companies liable for $4 million in compensatory damages, as well as potential punitives, for the role they concluded the companies played in the cancer and emphysema of a former nurse who smoked for more than three decades. Howles v. R.J. Reynolds, 2007-CV-034919.