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Fort Lauderdale, FL— In what is likely Florida's first wrongful death tobacco case brought by a same-sex surviving spouse to go to trial, jurors Thursday awarded $9.2 million in compensatory damages, and found punitives potentially warranted, for the role they found Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds played in a smoker’s death. Caprio v. Philip Morris, 2007-CV-036719.
Topics: tobacco, Engle Progeny, Florida, Caprio v. Philip Morris
Topics: tobacco, Florida, Gloger v. R.J. Reynolds
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Stuart, FL— A Florida state court jury Thursday cleared R.J. Reynolds of responsibility for a long-time smoker’s cancer death. Delancy v. R.J. Reynolds, 2008-CA-000067.
Topics: tobacco, Engle Progeny, Florida, Delancy v. R.J. Reynolds
With widespread knowledge of smoking’s dangers today, plaintiffs’ attorneys in tobacco cases often face a high hurdle when arguing why a smoker from decades ago may not have understood smoking’s risks, or quit in time to avoid disease. That hurdle can be even be even higher when the smoker at the heart of the case started as an adult. But in a recent trial against R.J. Reynolds, Eric Rosen’s memorable rebuttal on closings overcame those issues to help key an 8-figure win for the family of a woman who began smoking in her 30s.
Topics: Products Liability, tobacco, Engle Progeny, Florida, Hamilton v. R.J. Reynolds
Arguing damages stemming solely from non-economic loss can be difficult: A jury has no hard set of numbers to use as a starting point in calculating an award, while surviving plaintiffs' ability to cope following an incident can be used as an argument to mitigate non-economic loss. However, in closings of a 2019 damages-only trial over the death of a Florida mother hours after childbirth, Todd Michaels secured an eight-figure win by upending a defense contention on non-economic loss.
Topics: Medical Malpractice, Florida, vargas-chavez v. gonzalez-garcia, et al.
