The court rules that smokers may sue the tobacco industry once they develop a disease like lung cancer, even if they suffered different smoking-related ailments years earlier. Smokers may sue the tobacco industry once they develop a disease like lung cancer, even if they suffered different smoking-related ailments years earlier, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday. The decision is likely to keep lawsuits alive that might othe ... Jump to full article >>

Last week, Big Tobacco players Altria, Lorillard, and Reynolds American closed out a 13-year legal battle with a victory. These tobacco companies and others were sued by the city of St. Louis and 37 area hospitals for nearly $455 million in a bid to recover costs from 1993 to 2010 of treating smoking-related illnesses for patients who were unable to pay. The hospitals claimed that the industry had purposely produced an “unreasonably danger ... Jump to full article >>

The amounts were for destitute and non-paying patients whom medical ethics mandate hospital to treat regardless of their ability to pay. Missouri hospitals lost in a lawsuit against U.S. tobacco firms after a St. Louis jury declared that the cigarette companies are not liable for money spent on people with smoking-related ailments on Friday. The 40 Missouri hospitals claimed in their 1998 lawsuit that Philip Morris unit of Altria Group, the R.J. ... Jump to full article >>

A Pennsylvania lawsuit asks that the governor be forced to reinstate adultBasic after the auditor general said the government used one-third of the money legally designated to health programs for other purposes. The state’s adultBasic, a health insurance program for about 41,000 low-income adults in Pennsylvania, ended after funding expired Feb. 28. Money for the program came from a combination of tobacco-settlement revenues and donations from ... Jump to full article >>

A FRANKSTON trader is urging other angry shop owners to join him in a legal class action against Frankston Council over its smoking ban – which has become permanent in the trial zone and may be greatly extended. Glen Cooper, of Cooper’s Patisserie in Shannon Street Mall, told the Weekly that he and neighbouring coffee shop and juice bar proprietors have suffered substantial loss of trade since the council introduced its smoke-free ou ... Jump to full article >>

WORCESTER — Jury selection began yesterday for the trial arising from a 2001 wrongful death lawsuit brought against tobacco company Philip Morris Inc. by a former Douglas woman whose husband died of lung cancer eleven years ago. The Worcester Superior Court trial stemming from a civil suit filed by Brenda L. Haglund over the death of her 51-year-old husband, Stephen C. Haglund, is expected to continue for several weeks. Testimony is expected ... Jump to full article >>

RICHMOND, Va. — Philip Morris USA said a federal judge on Monday rejected a request by a group of California plaintiffs seeking class certification in a medical monitoring lawsuit against the tobacco company, saying that there was no reliable way to identify the class members. “This decision is absolutely consistent with existing law and the overwhelming majority of previous decisions denying class certification of smokers’ med ... Jump to full article >>

A jury in Escambia County on Monday returned the lowest verdict so far in a string of suits on behalf of smokers against tobacco companies. Betty Sulcer of Milton was awarded $11,250 on behalf of her late husband, Billy. A smoker since the age of 13, died of lung cancer at age 66 in 1993. The jury found $225,000 in compensatory damages. But the award was reduced because it found Sulcer’s husband 95 percent liable for his health issues and ... Jump to full article >>

A Commonwealth Court judge on Thursday denied a petition to freeze millions in tobacco-settlement money that had been paying for a health-insurance program but that Gov. Tom Corbett is now directing to the state’s general fund. Pennsylvania is expected to get an estimated $370 million in tobacco-settlement funds, and a portion of it was to help pay for adultBasic, which provided health insurance for people who do not qualify for Medicaid b ... Jump to full article >>

WEST PALM BEACH — Mary Tullo was convinced her husband’s life was cut short by the greed of cigarette-makers. On Wednesday, a Palm Beach County jury agreed, ordering three tobacco giants to pay the 87-year-old Lake Worth widow $2.47 million for causing the 1998 death of her husband from lung cancer. A stunned Mary Tullo hugged her attorneys and cried. “My children,” she said of why she pursued the case. “I wanted to gi ... Jump to full article >>