Tobacco.org

• Fla. Court Upholds $24 Million Verdict Against Tobacco Companies 

A 9-year-old products liability case produced a major victory over tobacco companies Wednesday when the 3rd District Court of Appeal upheld a $24.8 million award to a man who died of cancer shortly after trial.

The appellate panel offered no legal reasoning in its unsigned one-paragraph decision in John Lukacs' case against cigarette makers Philip Morris USA, Brown & Williamson and Liggett Group.

The unanimous opinion by Judges Richard Suarez, Angel Cortiñas and Vance Salter is the first appellate ruling upholding a verdict since the Florida Supreme Court dismantled a smoker class action and opened the door to individual trials.

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PHILIP MORRIS USA, INC. v. LUKACS 

PER CURIAM.

Affirmed. Engle v. Liggett Group, Inc., 945 So. 2d 1246, 1276-77 (Fla. 2006); Hendry v. Zelaya, 841 So. 2d 572, 575 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003).

Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

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• Tobacco Suits ($$) 

9-year-old products liability case produced a major victory over tobacco companies Wednesday when the 3rd District Court of Appeal upheld a $24.8 million award to a man who died of cancer shortly after trial.

3rd DCA opinion

The appellate panel offered no legal reasoning in its unsigned one-paragraph decision in John Lukacs’ case against cigarette makers Philip Morris USA, Brown & Williamson and Liggett Group.

The unanimous opinion by Judges Richard Suarez, Angel Cortiñas and Vance Salter is the first appellate ruling upholding a verdict since the Florida Supreme Court dismantled a smoker class action and opened the door to individual trials. . . .

The 3rd DCA decision cited the Supreme Court ruling, which allowed smokers to pursue individual lawsuits and offer the original jury’s findings as fact. New juries are advised to accept that smoking causes cancer and other illnesses, cigarettes are addictive and tobacco companies defrauded consumers by misleading them.

“It sends a clear message that Engle is the guiding light in Florida tobacco litigation,” Rogow said.

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• Reynolds Tobacco Claims Show Discount High Court Can't Prevent  

Reynolds American Inc., which escaped a $145 billion class-action verdict against the tobacco industry two years ago, may see its market value cut by more than $2 billion as thousands of the same smokers press individual claims.

Several victories among the 8,000 Florida plaintiffs may reduce the second-largest tobacco company's $15 billion value as much as 15 percent, said Brian Barish, who runs the Cambiar Aggressive Value Fund. That would equal a $2.3 billion decline.

The revival of large-scale litigation may mean the return of the discount that plagued shares of tobacco companies after a jury trial in Miami led to the historic punitive-damages award in July 2000. . . .

Besides Reynolds, cigarette makers named in the latest round of Florida suits include Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group Inc., the nation's biggest tobacco company, and Greensboro, North Carolina-based Lorillard Inc., the third-largest. Altria might fall 20 percent based on the same market reaction to early smoker victories, said Cambiar's Barish, who has sold the shares. . . .

Reynolds may be more vulnerable to multimillion-dollar losses because of its size. The company, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is forecast to generate $8.8 billion in sales this year compared with Altria's $15.5 billion, according to average estimates of analysts in Bloomberg surveys. . . .

In the largest verdict of the four, John Lukacs, a former three-pack-a-day smoker who lost his tongue to cancer, was awarded $37.5 million. The judge reduced that to $25.1 million. The defendants were companies that are now part of Reynolds, Altria and Miami-based Vector Group Ltd.

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• Lawyers for Tobacco Plaintiff Want $37.5 Million Judgment OK'd 

Lawyers for the widow of a man who won a $37.5 million verdict against cigarette makers in 2002 returned to Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Thursday and asked a judge to enter final judgment in the case and order a trial on punitive damages.

But lawyers for the tobacco companies argued for further delay. Even though the Florida Supreme Court last July allowed individual smokers' cases to proceed, the tobacco lawyers contended Yolanda Lukacs' case can't proceed until their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is completed.

Lawyers for the tobacco companies argued a stipulation entered into by the defense in the 2002 Lukacs trial precludes a punitive damages hearing at this time.

"The stipulation was very clear that there would be no further proceedings until appellate review is complete," said tobacco attorney Steven N. Zack, a partner at Boies Schiller & Flexner in Miami. "A defendant has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for certiori in this case, so appellate review is not complete."

But Lukacs' attorney, Philip Gerson of Gerson & Schwartz in Coral Gables, Fla., said the request was unreasonable. "Once cert is denied in Washington, they'll probably tell us they want to go to The Hague," he quipped. "It's been five years since the trial, and we're ready to proceed."

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Tobacco firms want '02 verdict thrown out  

Almost five years after a Miami jury awarded a dying ex-smoker more than $25 million in damages, major tobacco companies want the verdict tossed.

Veteran Navy pilot John Lukacs won the award in 2002 after jurors found the tobacco companies committed fraud by deceiving him about the health hazards of smoking. Lukacs died less than four months after the verdict.

A lawyer for two tobacco companies now wants the verdict thrown out because the Florida Supreme Court in December dismissed a similar fraud finding in an earlier tobacco case. . . .

Lukacs' lawyers also have asked for a trial for punitive damages. They didn't seek punitive damages at trial because they said it had already been decided in the earlier Miami-Dade tobacco case, which the high court later overturned.

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• Widow Seeks Reinstatement of Tobacco Verdict Award 

The widow of a plaintiff who won a $37.5 million verdict in Miami against cigarette makers has asked the Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal to reinstate trial court findings that the defendants deceived the public about the dangers of smoking.

If the court agrees, it would make it easier for individual plaintiffs to bring claims against tobacco companies and would preserve her award.

Yolanda Lukacs, widow of John Lukacs, who died of bladder and tongue cancer last year, filed an amicus brief in the appeal of the Florida smokers' class action last week. She is asking the court to reconsider its May 20 decision to vacate the $145 billion punitive damages verdict handed down by a jury in the Florida smokers' class action in 2000, decertify the class and remand the case to Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

Lukacs is asking the court to reinstate the class for the limited purpose of letting the jury's findings in the first phase of the three-part class action trial stand. . .

But Elliot Scherker, who is representing the tobacco companies, argues that the 3rd DCA correctly threw out the case and that no part of the trial court's findings, including Lukacs' award, should be preserved.

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Tobacco Industry Lawyers Argue Against $145B Award 

After having previously given its approval for class action litigation to proceed, Florida's 3rd District Court of Appeal on Wednesday overturned a $145 billion verdict in favor of thousands of Florida smokers against the tobacco industry and decertified the class.

In a sweeping victory for cigarette makers and huge blow to Miami plaintiffs' attorneys Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt, who represented the class, a three-judge panel unanimously ruled against the plaintiff class on a wide range of grounds. The verdict was the largest punitive award in U.S. history.

The court held that each smoker's claim was too unique and individualized to be tried collectively in a class action. "As now demonstrated by the two-year trial, even though there is a common nucleus of facts concerning the defendants' conduct, this case presents a multitude of individualized issues which make it particularly unsuitable for class treatment," said the 68-page opinion written by Judge David M. Gersten; Judges David L. Levy and Mario P. Goderich concurred.

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• A Giant Win for Tobacco Industry 

The ruling was devastating for the plaintiffs. The Rosenblatts can ask the three-judge panel to review its decision, request a new hearing before the full 3rd DCA or appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. But throughout the lengthy litigation, despite several requests, the high court has declined to rule on any matter in the case.

"This is not an appellate decision that is even slightly ambiguous about its ultimate disposition of the case," said Mark Gottlieb, at attorney with the Tobacco Products Liability Project in Boston that has assisted in lawsuits against the tobacco industry. "The court found several grounds significant enough to disallow the trial and result in the class not continuing."

But critics said the decision was surprising because the 3rd DCA had reviewed the class certification in the case and given its approval in 1996.

"The class was certified based on the 3rd DCA's criteria, and they narrowed it from a national to a Florida-only class," Gottlieb said. "But they suddenly now realize the transient nature of the Florida population makes it impossible to have a Florida-only class action. Surprising that these realizations are so late in coming. And after a two-year trial that resulted in such a strong statement from the jury."

Scherker countered that class certification is always reviewed after trial. "There are a lot of unique things in this case, but there nothing unique about the court looking at class certification anew," he said. . .

The fate of the Lukacs verdict is unclear in the wake of Wednesday's ruling by the 3rd DCA.

Steven Hunter, who represented Lukacs, said the 3rd DCA opinion will not affect the verdict awarded to his client. "I don't see how this opinion could affect our award for compensatory damages," said Hunter, a partner at Angones, Hunter, McClure, Lynch, Williams & Garcia in Miami. "The opinion says each plaintiff has to prove specific causation. We've already done that."

But tobacco defense attorney David Ross, a partner at Greenberg Traurig who handled the 3rd DCA appeal with Scherker, disagreed. "Lukacs' claim was based expressly on the Engle case," Ross said. "Based on the appellate court's opinion, I have little doubt that the verdict will not be able to stand."

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Cigarette Makers Win Reduction of Miami Smoker Award (Update1) 

Philip Morris USA and other U.S. tobacco companies convinced a Miami judge to reduce a Miami jury's verdict against the companies by about $12.4 million to $25.1 million.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Amy Steele Donner agreed with the tobacco companies that the $12.5 million awarded to the wife of longtime smoker John Lukacs was excessive, reducing it to $125,000, while allowing the $25 million awarded to Lukacs to stand.

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In Passing: John Lukacs Smoker Won Tobacco Settlement 

John Lukacs, 77, a real estate lawyer with oral and bladder cancer died Oct. 7 at his home in Coral Gables, Fla., less than three months after winning a $37.5 million jury award against three major cigarette makers. . .

The former Navy fighter pilot had a three-pack-a-day habit when he quit smoking cold turkey after 30 years in 1970. He was diagnosed with cancer in the early 1990s.

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Monessen man beats big tobacco, dies 

The former Monessen man who made history in June when he was awarded $37.5 million in damages from the tobacco industry has died.

John Lukacs, 77, never got a chance to enjoy the award he received from a Miami jury.

He died Monday from complications from cancer.

Lukacs grew up in Monessen and moved to Rostraver Township.

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Winner of tobacco suit dies 

A real estate lawyer with oral and bladder cancer died less than three months after winning a $37.5 million jury award against three major cigarette makers.

John Lukacs, 77, who testified in June knowing that he wouldn't live long enough to see any tobacco-suit money, died at home Monday from cancer complications.

Lukacs got special permission to be the only one to have his compensatory damage claim heard after Big Tobacco appealed a $145 billion punitive verdict covering all sick Florida smokers.

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John Lukacs, won suit against tobacco giants 

Miami John Lukacs knew he would never see a penny from his fight against Big Tobacco, but he moved forward with his suit against three industry giants so others would not have to go through the same ordeal, he once said.

Missing his tongue and much of his mouth because of cancer, Mr. Lukacs took the stand in June to testify, at times wrenching tears from the jurors, against Philip Morris, Brown & Williamson and the Liggett Group. A few days later, the jury awarded him $37.5 million for all the suffering that the effects of smoking has caused him.

But before the case went through all the appeals, Mr. Lukacs, a real estate attorney, died at his home on Monday from cancer-related complications. He was 77.

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Winner of $37.5M Tobacco Suit Dies 

A real estate lawyer with oral and bladder cancer died less than three months after winning a $37.5 million jury award against three major cigarette makers. He was 77.

John Lukacs, who testified in June knowing he wouldn't likely live long enough to see any of the award, died at home Monday.

The award came in a compensatory damage claim that grew out of a $145 billion punitive verdict covering all sick Florida smokers two years ago.

Individual plaintiffs were allowed to seek compensatory damages after that verdict. Lukacs' claim was the only one approved yet for trial by a state appeals court, which cited his "imminent death."

Cigarette makers Philip Morris, Brown & Williamson and Liggett Group were ordered to pay the compensatory award.

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