James Lee delivers his closing statement on behalf of Philip Morris at trial over the heart and lung diseases a Florida man says he developed after smoking the company's cigarettes. Watch the trial.
Miami, FL— Jurors last week cleared Philip Morris of responsibility for the heart and lung diseases a Florida man says he developed after decades of smoking the company’s cigarettes. Harper v. Philip Morris, et al., 2021-CA-013250.
The 11th Circuit, Florida state court jury wrapped a 10-day trial against the tobacco giant by concluding that the Marlboro and Parliament cigarettes Joseph Harper smoked for more than 20 years did not cause his heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD.
Harper, 77, began smoking as a teenager and continued smoking roughly 1-2 packs of cigarettes a day until quitting in 1988. However, in 2019, he was diagnosed with heart disease and COPD. He contends that Philip Morris’ cigarettes were dangerous and addictive and ultimately caused the diseases.
The case against Philip Morris is a rare Florida tobacco lawsuit that is not among the thousands of so-called Engle progeny suits against the nation’s cigarette companies. Unlike Engle progeny cases, in which certain product-defect claims have already been decided against a defendant tobacco company, Harper’s attorneys were required to prove product liability, design-defect claims. And while the jury found Philip Morris cigarettes were defectively designed, the case ultimately turned on whether any defect was the cause of Harper’s diseases.
During her closing last Thursday, Harper’s attorney, Nicole Diaz, of The Law Offices of Richard J. Diaz, walked jurors through medical records and testimony she said showed that Harper’s smoking was a key cause of his diseases. She told jurors that Harper’s treating physicians agreed he has respiratory disease, while Philip Morris’ medical expert was the lone dissenting voice on that front. And, in comparing the development of Harper’s heart disease to the building of a house, she noted medical testimony finding that Harper’s smoking laid down a “substrate” of coronary plaque in his arteries that, in conjunction with subsequent health issues, helped lead to his heart disease.
“[Smoking] lays the bricks down for the foundation of the house,” Diaz said. “And everything else that comes is laying on that foundation.”
But the defense pushed back on claims Harper’s diseases were caused by the cigarettes that he quit long before his medical diagnosis. On Thursday, Boies Schiller Flexner’s James Lee noted that Harper complained of no symptoms of respiratory disease until decades after he quit smoking. Lee said medical testimony concluded it was impossible for the disease to manifest so long afterward if it had been related to cigarettes.
Lee also told jurors medical evidence showed that smoking could not have caused the specific disease progression that led to Harper’s congestive heart failure. By contrast, he noted a range of other health issues, including a prior heart attack, obesity, and diabetes, that he said more likely caused Harper’s ultimate disease.
“When there are [this] many risk factors,” Lee said, “plaintiff can’t show that smoking was the specific disease pathway to Mr. Harper’s congestive heart failure.”
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
Related information
Not a subscriber?
Learn how you can access an unrivaled trial video library.