As media coverage notes, the Florida case is the 13th verdict against a tobacco company out of 15 cases since the Florida Supreme Court decided in 2006 that individual cases could be brought, effectively decertifying the class action approach there.

The Tobacco Products Liability Project, an anti-smoking group, offers this roundup of other recent decisions in Florida that are likely to nudge up the cost of a pack of smokes by a nickel or two:

- March 10. A jury awarded $5 million compensatory damages award to the plaintiff in the Douglas case. The jury assessed 50% responsibility to the deceased smoker, 27% responsibility to Liggett Group, 18% responsibility to Philip Morris, and 5% responsibility to R.J. Reynolds. Thus, if the verdict withstands appeals, the plaintiff will receive $2.5 million.

- March 12. A jury in Gainesville awarded $5 million in compensatory damages and $12.5 million in punitive damages against R.J. Reynolds in the Hall case. The trial judge later reduced the total award to $15.75 million.

- March 17. The Third District Court of Appeal upheld the $24.8 million award to John Lukacs, a longtime smoker who died of cancer shortly after his 2002 trial. The defendants in that case are Philip Morris USA, Brown & Williamson and Liggett Group.

- March 24. A jury in Fort Lauderdale awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages against Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds in the Cohen case. The jury assessed one-third responsibility to Mr. Cohen, Philip Morris and RJR; thus, the total award to the plaintiff, if the verdict withstands appeals, will be $26.6 million.

- April 13 and 14. A jury awarded $3.5 million in compensatory damages and $18 million ($17 million against R.J. Reynolds and $1 million against Liggett Group) in punitive damages to the family of a longtime smoker in the Clay case. The jury assessed the smoker as 30% responsible, R.J. Reynolds 60% responsible and Liggett Group 10% responsible. Thus, if the verdict withstands appeal, the plaintiff will receive $20.45 million.

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Wiener writes that the tobacco companies have a small ark of historians willing to testify about how far back consumers have known about the health consequences of smoking. Though few of those academics would talk to Wiener. And he found only three historians who have testified for plaintiffs.

The reasons for the disparity are varied, but in the end it comes down to money. From his piece:

The reasons were explained by Michael Piuze, the Los Angeles attorney who won the $28 billion verdict in the Bullock case. When it comes to the harm caused by smoking, he said, Big Tobacco is unique. ”In most product liability litigation–auto manufacturing or pharmaceuticals–there may be one lawsuit for every 50,000 customers,” Piuze said. “But tobacco companies kill or seriously injure one in two of their customers.” (That is the standard scientific view, endorsed by the American Cancer Society and the World Health Organization.) Thus they can’t possibly pay for the damage they have caused. “So the industry decided in the 1950s on a scorched-earth litigation policy. They would never give up. Never settle. If they ever lost a case, they would appeal. Forever. That’s the way it still is. The message to the plaintiffs’ bar is clear: don’t screw with us, or you’ll be sorry. We will break you financially.”

For some reason, this mental image keeps cropping up – Joe Camel wearing brass knuckles.

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The state’s tobacco tax of 87 cents per pack ranks 32nd in the nation, and makes it one of only four states in the U.S. that has not raised its levy in more than a decade.

California was faulted for its scattershot efforts to provide help to smokers trying to quit, in particular its lack of any mandate that private insurers cover smoking cessation efforts.

The state also earned a failing grade for its tobacco prevention and control funding. In fiscal 2010, California is slated to spend nearly $79 million on prevention programs, less than one-fifth what the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say is needed, according to the report. Of course, the tobacco industry spends more than that in three days marketing its products around the U.S., running up a $34 million tab every day on advertising and other promotional efforts.

State lawmakers failed to make much headway during the past year, the report noted, with the most notable defeat was a failed attempt to nearly double the tobacco tax by raising it to $1.50 a pack. Philip Morris spent more than $842,000 to lobby on the legislation and other tobacco-related bills last spring, eclipsing its past records for spending.

On one front California does remain a leader – ensuring a smoke-free environment. The state earned an A grade from the Lung Assn. for its restrictions on smoking in most public buildings.

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The American Tort Reform Association is preparing to release its annual report on “Judicial Hellholes,” detailing what it considers to be the nation’s “most unfair civil court jurisdictions.”   The report quotes the head of the organization, Tiger Joyce.  He contends lawsuits have “a negative impact” on health care system.

What about the negative impact on the health care system that Joyce’s patrons have had?

Joyce’s organization doesn’t go out of its way to present itself as a pro-business advocacy group.  But it does make what it calls a “sample list” of its members available on its website.  You won’t find a consumer-oriented organization on the list, but you will find plenty of powerful interests with motivation to keep the consumer from getting a fair shake in the courtroom:  the American Medical Association, the American Petroleum Institute, DaimlerChrysler, Big Insurance (CNA, Doctors’ Company, State Farm), Big Pharma (Pfizer, Wyeth, Johnson & Johnson).

Then there’s Altria, the company formerly known as Philip Morris, the world’s largest cigarette maker.  In the archives of the University of California, San Francisco’s Legacy Tobacco Documents Library we find this warm 1996 letter from Philip Morris to its friend, Tiger Joyce:

Business interests, even the tobacco companies, have a right to advocate for their point of view.  But the rest of us need to keep in mind whose interests are served by the laws and policies they advocate.

Tobacco is the leading cause of death, killing 443,000 Americans annually, as the Centers for Disease Control says here.  That’s what some might fairly call a “negative impact” on the health care system.

–J.G. Preston

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