Edward Caprio v. Philip Morris, et al. 

Fort Lauderdale—As trial opened Wednesday, Edward Caprio's lawyer, Steven Hammer, told jurors how he believed an addiction to nicotine, not a choice to smoke, left his client tied to an oxygen tank and unable to successfully quit cigarettes until last month, years after he had been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 

"It's been said that silence is golden, but for Ed (Caprio), when he's sleeping, if this (Oxygen) machine shuts down, and becomes silent, it's a death sentence," Hammer said. "Nobody chooses to be strapped to an oxygen machine. Nobody chooses to walk around with a walker, strapped to an oxygen tank," Hammer, of the Law Offices of Sheldon J. Schlesinger, said. 

Caprio 72, is suing Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard and the Liggett Group, makers of the cigarettes he claims led to his COPD and eventual lung cancer. Caprio claims he began smoking when he was 15, and argues that his nicotine addiction was so powerful that he was unable to completely give up smoking, even after being diagnosed with COPD in 1996 and subsequent lung cancer.

Hammer told jurors that Caprio's nicotine addiction was fueled by tobacco industry's "engineering" of cigarettes and its concealment of smoking's dangers in order to maintain and increase market share. "If you don't sustain that addiction, you lose customers," Hammer said. "And that's what's important to these companies, their customers. Not the health of the customers, but the money of the customers."

However, Philip Morris attorney Walter Cofer, of Shook Hardy Bacon, countered that Caprio successfully stopped smoking decades ago, when he went without cigarettes for six months during the 1980s. Cofer told jurors Thursday that the six-month period was more than enough time to move through the typical nicotine withdrawal period. Cofer told jurors that Caprio's decision to resume smoking was based on a choice and that it was that decision that led to his lung cancer and COPD. "How would things be different if in the 1980s, when Mr. Caprio... went without smoking for six months, (he'd) stayed quit? The answer is simple: we wouldn't be here," Cofer said. 

Neither the parties' attorneys nor tobacco company representatives could be reached for comment. 

Coming next week: Caprio's attorneys will move into the central issues of their case. 

Breaking News:  Philip Morris Prevails in $21.9M Engle Progeny, Laryngeal Cancer Suit

Shook, Hardy & Bacon's Robert McCarter, representing Philip Morris, details a timeline of Jose Vila's smoking history for jurors. Vila claims Philip Morris's misrepresentation of smoking's health effects led to his nicotine addiction and laryngeal cancer. 

Vila v. Philip Morris

After three days of jury selection, trial opened Thursday in Jose Vila's suit seeking damages for the loss of his larynx, which he claims was caused by smoking-related throat cancer.

Vila, 60, began smoking at 15 and continued the habit for more than 24 years, quitting only after doctors diagnosed him with laryngeal cancer in 1994. Vila's larynx was removed two years later to treat a recurrence of the cancer. 

Videotaped deposition testimony from tobacco expert Robert Proctor led off Vila's case in chief Thursday afternoon, as plaintiff's attorneys sought to establish that the tobacco industry misrepresented the health effects and addictive nature of smoking for decades, while continuing to aggressively market their products. Proctor detailed years' worth of tobacco industry tactics, including the support of controversial scientific organizations and aggressive marketing through public relations firms to cast doubt about the dangers of smoking. Detailing the industry's reliance on public relations agency Hill & Knowlton as far back as the 1950s, Proctor said "They used this PR firm to contact the press, to create a favorable image, really to whitewash cigarettes and make them appear safe again to the public eye.

"It was entirely a public relations effort. It was to reassure the public that it was safe to smoke."

However, the defense argued that Vila, who began smoking while growing up in Spain, was not influenced by the U.S. tobacco marketing strategies Proctor detailed. In opening statements prior to Proctor's testimony, Shook, Hardy & Bacon's Robert McCarter, representing Philip Morris, told jurors Proctor's testimony regarding tobacco marketing tactics did not apply to Vila. "There's no evidence that anything you're going to see when you watch that video, reached Mr. Vila, much less had any impact on his decisions," McCarter said.

Coming next week: Vila's attorneys are expected to move to the heart of their case in chief.