Tobacco News

Soon after lawyers from a tobacco company asked for time to think about a $10 million offer to settle suits filed by thousands of flight attendants, they took the offer off the table.
Attorneys for the flight attendants — who spent years working on smoke-filled planes — say they can prove that Big Tobacco banded together to thwart the deal.
Three tobacco companies offered to help a fourth pay for future judgments and attorneys’ fees if it rejected the settlement, according to a motion filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court this month. Ream more »

I was there trying the case with my partner, David Sales. Here are some of my thoughts from “inside” the trial of a tobacco case. This was a lung cancer (squamous cell) case resulting from a long history of addiction to cigarettes – RJ Reynolds cigarettes. Our deceased client, James Horner, was diagnosed with lung cancer in December of 1991; he passed away in March of 1996 at age 78.
Ream more »

Federal officials are planning new regulations on tobacco products, including those marketed as alternatives to smoking — such as dissolvable tobacco tablets sold by Camel. But some of the men and women on the government’s official advisory panel have financial ties to the drug companies selling competing products, such as Nicorette. One government adviser even holds a patent for a new nicotine gum. Read more

Alarge and looming loophole in Florida’s tobacco policy is a goose that’s laying golden eggs for the newest member of the Big Tobacco club: Dosal Tobacco. And while Dosal plays politics to protect its golden goose, Florida’s taxpayers are paying the bill for Big Tobacco’s free lunch. Read more