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Miami, FL— A Florida jury cleared R.J. Reynolds of responsibility for the alleged respiratory disease of a long-time Florida smoker, by concluding her family's claim against the tobacco giant was time-barred. Conaway v. R.J. Reynolds, 2010-CA-044753.
The 11th Circuit Florida state court jury deliberated less than two hours before concluding Joyce Deschamps’ alleged respiratory disease did not "manifest" between May 5, 1990 and November 21, 1996, which excluded the claim from membership in a class of cases against Reynolds.
Deschamps was born in 1950 and began smoking as a teenager, continuing for roughly 50 years. Her family contends she was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, in 1993. She ultimately died in 2018 for reasons unrelated to chronic respiratory disease.
Her family contends that Reynolds concealed the dangers of smoking, fueling her addiction to nicotine, and ultimately causing her COPD. The case is one of thousands that stem from Engle v. Liggett Group Inc., a 1994 Florida state court class-action lawsuit against Reynolds and the nation's other tobacco companies, in which jurors found for the plaintiffs. The state's supreme court later decertified the class, but ruled that so-called "Engle progeny" cases may be tried individually. Plaintiffs are entitled to the benefit of the jury's findings in the original verdict if they establish class membership by showing nicotine addiction caused a disease such as COPD to manifest between the 1990 and 1996 cutoff dates.
The 10-day trial ultimately turned on evidence surrounding the existence of Deschamps' disease and when it “manifested." During closings, Richard Diaz, of Richard J. Diaz, P.A., highlighted a 1993 hospital record diagnosing Deschamps with acute bronchitis and “chronic obstructive lung disease.” Diaz contended evidence showed this constituted a diagnosis of COPD based on the terms medical personnel would use at the time that 1993 medical record was created.
Diaz told jurors that, in order to reject the document, “You’d have to believe… it’s two things, a misdiagnosis and a failure to diagnose pneumonia. Does that square with your eyes, and your ears, and that document, and your reason and common sense?”
But Reynolds contends that there was no record of test results actually showing Deschamps had COPD during the relevant time period. And during her closing, King & Spalding’s Ursula Henninger reminded jurors of a 2017 pulmonary function test that showed no pulmonary obstruction, the signature element of COPD. Henninger told jurors that any chronic pulmonary disease Deschamps may have suffered could not have cleared from 1993 to 2017, especially given her smoking history.
“If she had it in ‘93, it would still be there… especially since she’s allegedly smoking 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day this entire time,” Henninger said. “She didn’t have it in 2017, she didn’t have it in 1993.”
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
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