Stephanie Parker delivers her closing argument for R.J. Reynolds at trial over the lung cancer death of Rebecca Fredenhagen. Jurors Thursday cleared Reynolds of responsibility for Fredenhagen's death. 

Daytona Beach, FL—Jurors Thursday needed less than an hour to reject the claims of siblings who sought up to $8 million in compensatory damages plus untold punitives from R.J. Reynolds for the lung cancer death of their mother, a former Florida health department worker. Coursey v. R.J. Reynolds, 2013-30656-CICI. 

Taylor, Bean & Whitaker former general counsel, Jeffery Cavender, engages in a heated exchange on cross exam over provisions of an agreement between the company and Colonial Bancgroup.

Miami—As the $5.5 billion accounting negligence trial against PricewaterhouseCoopers entered its third week Monday, the former general counsel of failed mortgage giant Taylor, Bean & Whitaker wrapped up two days of testimony over agreements that led to the company’s collapse, and caused one of the biggest bank failures of the Great Recession era.  Taylor Bean & Whitaker Plan Trust v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 2013-033964-CA-01.

Safety procedures used by a steel manufacturing giant played a central role at the 2015 trial over the death of a 24-year-old electrical worker, and Conley Griggs & Partin's Cale Conley opened the proceeding with a powerful list of ways he believed the steel company could have prevented the deadly accident. Lanier v. Gerdau Ameristeel. 

Dr. David Burns tells jurors he believes Rebecca Fredenhagen was addicted to nicotine. Fredenhagen, who smoked for decades, died of lung cancer seven years after quitting. 

Daytona Beach, FL—A Florida health department employee smoked throughout each day for decades—while working, doing laundry, cooking, gardening, even crocheting. But she was also strong-willed and independent, and successfully quit smoking in her first serious attempt, according to testimony at trial against R.J. Reynolds, accused of addicting her to the cigarettes that caused her fatal cancer. Coursey v. R.J. Reynolds, 2013-30656-CICI. 

The recent settlement of Steve Jacobs' wrongful termination suit against Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands Corp. may have closed the courtroom doors on a potentially explosive trial involving claims from blackmail to organized crime alliances. However, it left behind last year's key pre-trial clash between the 81-year-old billionaire and Jacobs' attorney, Pisanelli Bice's James Pisanelli.