Topics: Toxic Torts, Products Liability, Tobacco Litigation, Putney v. R.J. Reynolds

Closing arguments in Putney v. RJ Reynolds began today. Plaintiff attorney Charles Baumberger argued that the treating physicians were in the best position to diagnose Margot Putney's cancer, and the treating physicians -- "the eye witnesses" -- all concluded that the cancer began in the lung, not the thyroid. "They say that five treating physicians got it wrong!"

Topics: Toxic Torts, Products Liability, Tobacco Litigation, Putney v. R.J. Reynolds

Opening statements in Putney v. R.J. Reynolds began today before Hon. Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Topics: Toxic Torts, Tobacco Litigation, Putney v. R.J. Reynolds

The plaintiffs appear to be sharpening their game in Florida's  Engle-progeny tobacco litigation cases.

 

 

Although the Tobacco defense attorneys scored two early wins last year ( Gelep and Kalyvas), it has been 11 months since the last defense verdict.  

 

And since then, the defense has been pounded with two $30M verdicts ( Martin and Cohen), and a $300M verdict ( Naugle), which was subsequently reduced to $39M, as well as several smaller verdicts: $1.2M ( Brown), $5.3M ( Barbanell), $7.8M ( Campbell), $9.2M ( Gray), $17.5M ( Hall).  Punitive damages have been awarded in six cases ( Hess, Martin, Naugle, Gray, Hall,  Cohen).

 

Tobacco's eight-trial losing streak comes on the eve of a double-header scheduled to begin next week in Fort Lauderdale:  Putney v. R.J. Reynolds, before Hon. Judge John Murphy, and  Grossman v. R.J. Reynolds, before Hon. Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld. CVN will be covering both trials.

 

Despite the recent trial losses, the Tobacco companies may well see themselves as winning the war, even as they lose some battles. For example, negative trial outcomes could mask a large number of favorable settlements in other cases. Further, the Tobacco companies have succeeded in convincing juries that the smoker should share the fault in most or all of the cases, thus reducing the amount of the damage award that must actually be paid.

 

Moreover, even if the Tobacco companies lost all 8,000 Engle cases and were liable for $2M each, the total liability ($16B) would nonetheless be far below the $145B in punitive damages awarded in the original Engle case.

 

However, $2M was only the average verdict during the first four months of the Engle cases (FEB-09 to APR-09).  Since then, the average verdict has been closer to $20M.

 

Most of the Engle progeny cases are available via  CVN on-demand webcast. A one-year subscription to CVN's entire  Tobacco Library is available for  $49/month.

Topics: Products Liability, Engle Progeny, Tobacco Litigation

Topics: Toxic Torts, Cohen v. RJ Reynolds, Products Liability, Tobacco Litigation