During opening statements Wednesday, Jordan Chaikin claims nicotine addiction fueled Martin McCall's 40-year smoking history. McCall died in 1992 after being diagnosed with lung cancer. His wife, Bernice, is suing Philip Morris for its alleged role in his death. 

Fort Lauderdale, FL—Attorneys Wednesday debated what drove an alcoholism counselor to smoke for 40 years until he died, allegedly from cancer-related complications, as trial opened in his widow's suit against tobacco giant Philip Morris. McCall v. Philip Morris, 2007-CV-036888.

Keri Arnold delivers closing arguments Saturday during trial in Ina Ahrens' suit against R.J. Reynolds and Arnold's client, Philip Morris. 

St. Petersburg, FL—Following a rare Saturday session, jurors imposed a $5 million punitive verdict against the nation’s two largest cigarette makers, capping a Florida widow’s trial for the lung cancer death of her husband. Ahrens v. Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, 07-013535-CI-08.

There are three truths about expert testimony.

The first, which first-time jurors discover to their dismay: expert testimony isn’t like what they see on their favorite TV legal dramas. Real testimony is long—running hours to days—and filled with complex jargon and mind-numbing data that turns into white noise when delivered by the wrong witness.

The second truth, which dismays attorneys and their clients: expert testimony is expensive, costing thousands of dollars a day at trial and up to seven figures over the course of a long, complex case.

But the third truth is the most critical: expert testimony is the pivot on which many trials turn.

During closings of Ina Ahrens's trial against cigarette makers R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris. Gary Paige tells jurors the Heaviness of Smoking Index shows Karl Ahrens was addicted to nicotine.

Updated 2/12/16, 2:04 p.m.:

St. Petersburg, FL—Jurors today awarded $9 million in compensatory damages to the widow and son of a Florida man after finding the nation’s two largest tobacco companies responsible for his fatal lung cancer. Ahrens v. Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, 07-013535-CI-08.

Decatur, GA—Trial is scheduled to begin next week in a suit by a man who claims a Conyers hospital’s medical staff failed to properly treat his wife’s aneurysm in time to prevent a series of strokes that caused her life-long brain damage. Evans v. Sutton, et al, 13A48465-4.