"Everybody knows that Eveline Warrick was addicted to cigarettes," plaintiff attorney Bob Shields told the jury, in closing argument of the re-trial of Warrick v. R.J. Reynolds, webcast live by CVN. "The evidence is overwhelming, and there is no contrary evidence at all. The answer to question #1 on the form has to be 'yes.'"
Topics: Toxic Torts, Products Liability, Engle Progeny, Warrick v. RJ Reynolds, Tobacco Litigation
Gerson & Schwartz' Philip Gerson told the jury in Frazier v. Philip Morris that Phyllis Frazier started smoking at age 15, around 1960, and smoked a pack a day for 30 years, until she was diagnosed with emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 1991. She quit smoking eight months later with the assistance of a nicotine patch. Ms. Frazier underwent a successful lung transplant in 2003, but her body subsequently rejected the new lungs, and at the time of trial she still suffered from COPD.
Topics: Toxic Torts, Engle Progeny, Tobacco Litigation, Frazier v. Philip Morris
Doffermyre Shields' Bob Shields began his opening statement to the jury, in the retrial of Warrick v. R.J. Reynolds, "It was just before Christmas in 1953 when the heads of the major tobacco companies got together for a secret meeting at the Plaza Hotel in New York City to decide what to do about the mounting scientific evidence that cigarette smoking caused cancer.
Topics: Toxic Torts, Products Liability, Engle Progeny, Warrick v. RJ Reynolds, Tobacco Litigation
According to Abrahamson & Uiterwyk's Hendrik Uiterwyk, in Willis v. R.J. Reynolds, plaintiff Jimmy Willis suffered from laryngeal cancer, bladder cancer, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) caused by Willis' addiction to smoking. Mr. Willis stopped smoking in 1993 after he contracted laryngeal cancer, and as a result of the surgery, could only speak or breathe through a hole is his throat.
Topics: Toxic Torts, Products Liability, Willis v. Reynolds, Engle Progeny, Tobacco Litigation
Jones Day's Kevin Boyce convinced a Fort Launderdale jury that although Leonard Budnick died of lung cancer caused by smoking, an addiction to smoking was not the legal cause of Mr. Budnick's death; instead, Mr. Budnick smoked because he wanted to.
Topics: Toxic Torts, Products Liability, Budnick v. Reynolds, Engle Progeny, Tobacco Litigation
