Tobacco Lawsuits
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[edit] What is a lawsuit?
A lawsuit is a claim or complaint brought before a court with the purpose of recovering a right or redressing a grievance. A lawsuit consists of a Plantiff and a Defendant. The Plantiff is the person who brings the suit to court, and the Defendant is the one who is trying to convince the judge that he is not guilty.
[edit] Who is suing the tobacco companies?
J.T.V. Lawsuits against tobacco companies are usually filed by long-term smokers who have suffered serious medical problems because of smoking tobacco. Sometimes the surviving family that is left after a smoker dies from tobacco-related problems will sue the cigarette company. State and Federal governments also have sued tobacco companies.
[edit] Why do people sue tobacco and cigarette manufacturing companies?
These people such as J.T.V. and organizations sue mostly to obtain monetary reimbursement for medical expenditures necessitated by tobacco-related health problems. Governments can also sue for reimbursement on their insurance expenditures. The last common type is wrongful death suits that come from surviving families of smokers.
[edit] Who usually wins?
As long as the plaintiff has a strong case and a good lawyer, he will generally win his case. Most cases are won by bringing failure to warn or dangerous or defective product claims.
-Failure to warn: Companies not telling tobacco consumers about the dangers of tobacco until they were required to by the government.
-Dangerous/Defective product: These are based on the extreme dangers of tobacco use, even when there are warnings.
There are also false marketing claims that say that the companies created false controversy about the dangers of tobacco use. By the time these smokers learned the truth about the dangers of tobacco use, they were already sick with emphysema or cancer.
[edit] Recent Tobacco Lawsuits
-June 2002: A District Court in Kansas awarded $15 in punitive damages against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco after calling the company's conduct "highly blameworthy and deserving of significant punishment." (David Burton vs. R.J. Reynold's Tobacco
-June 2002: A Miami jury held three cigarette companies liable for $37.5 million in a lawsuit involving an ex–smoker who lost his tongue to tobacco–related oral cancer. (Lukacs vs. Phillip Morris)
-October 2002: A Los Angeles jury issued $28 billion in punitive damages against Phillip Morris. This was later reduced to $28 million. (Betty Bullock vs. Phillip Morris)
-2004: A New York jury issued $20 million to the wife of a long-term smoker who died of lung cancer at the age of 57. This was the first time that a New York court had held a tobacco company liable for an individual smoker's death. (Gladys Frankson vs. Brown and Williams Tobacco Corp)
[edit] More Information
-MSNBC News: Tobacco Index [1]
-BaltimoreSun.com: "Justices Void Award in Tobacco Lawsuit" [2]
-Links to more tobacco info:[3]
[edit] References
-Francesco Barbera (Slate Web Magazine): "A Tobacco Lawsuit Primer" April 25, 2000 [4] This contribution was made by J.T.V.
