Posts tagged tobacco

• Big Tobacco Better Exhale

  Staff Writer | August 22, 2006 10:29 AM | 0 CommentsOrlando, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  A US District Judge ruled yesterday that big tobacco companies conspired for years to hide the deadly effects of cigarette smoke from the public. This isn't suprising to most of us who've followed these battles. However, it will most likely lead to a groundswell of lawsuits against big tobacco. For decades now, the tobacco marketing strategy has focused on youth and many have suffered the...

• Florida Smokers Have Justice And Compensation Within Reach

  Bob Carroll | August 22, 2006 5:56 AM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  The national organizations for the many diseases linked to smoking are beginning to issue statements in support of the recent federal court decision that detailed Big Tobacco's massive scheme to addict people to smoking "without regard for the human tragedy or social costs" that resulted. The federal decision, however, does not appear to have accomplished much for the victims of the scheme.In...

• Diseases Caused By Smoking Will Support A Tobacco Lawsuit

  Bob Carroll | August 18, 2006 5:16 AM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  Florida smokers and the families of deceased smokers who believe cigarette smoking has been the cause of injury or death need to immediately seek legal advice. The Florida Supreme Court ruling in ENGLE v. LIGGETT GROUP, INC., SC03-1856 (Fla. 2006) has opened the door for individual lawsuits against tobacco companies claiming compensatory and punitive damages. Following a meeting yesterday with...

• Another Reminder To Sue Cigarette Companies For Injury Or Death

  Bob Carroll | August 18, 2006 4:25 AM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  Tobacco companies have violated anti-racketeering laws, have marketed lethal products with zeal and deception and have conspired for fifty years in a campaign to deny the dangers of smoking and to sell cigarettes to children. These are just some of the findings of a federal judge this week.From Bloomberg News: Cigarette Makers Lose in U.S. Racketeering Lawsuit A federal judge ruled that Altria...

• Tobacco Lawsuits Increasing In Florida Courts

  Bob Carroll | July 31, 2006 5:57 AM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  Today's St. Petersburg Times reports: There's a nasty war out there. One poised to escalate once again. It is the conflict with the tobacco industry. It's a battle fought in the courts nationwide and, as we will see more and more, in developing countries desperate to curtail tobacco addiction among their own people.In what the media at first called a big victory for the tobacco industry, the...

• Smoke Is Clearing On Tobacco Ruling

  Bob Carroll | July 25, 2006 7:14 AM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  The smoke has cleared a little on the recent decision of the Florida Supreme Court that was initially hailed as a victory for Big Tobacco. (Pardon the pun.) It now appears that the legal pathway for 700,000 smokers to a recovery for their smoking-related injuries may be much straighter than before the ruling. The courthouse doors are now open to the smokers. As they enter they are handed...

• Individual Florida Tobacco Lawsuits Coming?

  Staff Writer | July 17, 2006 2:36 PM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  Big Tobacco scored a victory earlier this month when the Florida Supreme Court upheld the decision of a lower court to throw out $145 billion awarded to a class of 300,000 to 700,000 Florida smokers. This opens the door for individual tobacco lawsuits by decertifying the class action.A Miami jury had ruled in 2000 that the tobacco companies deceived smokers about the dangers of cigarettes and...

• St. Pete Times Editorial Gets Tobacco Verdict Reversal Wrong

  Bob Carroll | July 09, 2006 6:14 AM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  If a trial lawyer were to be bold enough to sue tobacco companies in a class action lawsuit seeking punitive damages because they intentionally sold an addictive product which caused serious harm to the health of smokers and lied about the dangers of smoking, I strongly suspect a majority of people would say, "Go, Baby, Go!," and hope for a really big punitive damage award that would create...

• Part Of Tobacco Settlement May Have Gone Up In Smoke (Screen)

  Bob Carroll | May 20, 2006 5:17 AM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL Category: Defective & Dangerous Products
  

  Gunsmoke brand cigarettes part of smokescreen. That should be the headline of this news story.Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist announced yesterday that his office has moved to have one of the nation's largest tobacco manufacturers held in contempt for violating Florida's historic multi-billion-dollar 1997 tobacco settlement. Crist said Brown & Williamson Holding Inc. failed to report the...