US Supreme Court Considers Fla. Tobacco Cases

Source from:  Palm Beach (FL) Post  06/05/2014

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected this week to decide whether to take up challenges by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to rulings that have bolstered thousands of Florida lawsuits against cigarette makers.

R.J. Reynolds contends that its due-process rights have been violated in a major 2006 decision by the Florida Supreme Court and in subsequent lawsuits.

In that 2006 ruling, commonly known as the Engle case, the Florida Supreme Court determined that lawsuits filed by sick smokers and their families against the tobacco industry had to be heard separately instead of as a class action — but it also established critical findings about the health dangers of smoking and misrepresentation by cigarette makers. Those findings have helped spur a flood of lawsuits, which are dubbed "Engle progeny" cases, and have led to some multimillion-dollar judgments against the industry. Enditem