Cigarette Litigation Essay -- essays research papers fc

Cig artte LitigationIn August 1970 a leading tobacco defense attorney, David R. Hardy, wrote a confidential letter warning that indiscreet comments by industry scientists, including references to biologically active components of cigarette smoke and the search for a safer cigarette, constitute a real threat to the go along success in the defense of smoking and health litigation. The actual knowledge on the part of the defendant that smoking is generally dangerous to health, that certain ingredients are dangerous to health and should be removed, or that smoking causes a particular disease. This would not only be say that would substantially prove a suit of clothes against the defendant company for compensatory damages, but could be considered as evidence of willfulness or recklessness sufficient to support a claim for punitive damages. As the evidence about the health hazards of smoking accumulated, and especially after the 1964 surgeon generals report, liability protection. The c igarette companies continued to aim propaganda about the smoking and health rock at the general public. The Cigarette Papers describes plans in 1969 for a public relations campaign intended to set aside in the minds of millions the false doctrine that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer and other diseases. As late as 1985, R.J. Reynolds ran misleading ads suggesting that a large epidemiological study had not found evidence of a link between smoking and heart disease. The tobacco companies have always feared that one successful suit would lead to a flood of litigation, wholesale the industry away. Nowadays that fear seems more realistic than ever, given the hundreds of pending state lawsuits, secondhand smoke claims, class actions, and cases filed by individual smokers. The case started when twain small-town Mississippi lawyers declared war on Tobacco Companies and skillfully pursued a daring new litigation strategy that ultimately brought the industry to the negotiating table. F or twoscore years tobacco companies had won every lawsuit brought against them and never paid out a dime. In 1997 that all changed. The industry agreed to a historical deal to pay $368 billion in health-related damages and tear down billboard advertisements.Mississippis Attorney General Mike Moore joined forces with his classmate attorney shot Scruggs and sued tobacco companies on behalf of the states t... ...ials01.htmLawyers in Early Tobacco Suits to Get $8 Billion http//nytimes.qpass.com/qpass-archives/fastweb?QProd=19&QIID=1998arcDOC109434&NYTID=&Srch=state_id=1+view=view+docid=doc+docdb=1998arc+dbname=db+TemplateName=doc.tmplCompanies be Would Be Great, But So Is Their Outlook for Profit http//nytimes.qpass.com/qpassarchives/fastweb?QProd=19&QIID=1997arcDOC47100&NYTID=&Srch=state_id=1+view=view+docid=doc+docdb=1997arc+dbname=db+TemplateName=doc.tmplPhilip Morris Admits Evidence Shows Smoking Causes Cancerhttp//nytimes.qpass.com/qpass-archives/fastweb?QProd=19&QIID=1999arcD OC84540&NYTID=&Srch=state_id=1+view=view+docid=doc+docdb=1999arc+dbname=db+TemplateName=doc.tmplSenate Approves Limiting Fees Lawyers Get in Tobacco CasesNew York Raising Tax on Cigarettes To Help uninsured http//nytimes.qpass.com/qpass-archives/fastweb?QProd=19&QIID=1999arcDOC104461&NYTID=&Srch=state_id=1+view=view+docid=doc+docdb=1999arc+dbname=db+TemplateName=doc.tmplInside The Tobacco Dealhttp//www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/settlement/etc/synopsis.htmlActual Knowledgehttp//reason.com/9612/bk.jacob.shtml