National Chamber Litigation Center Seeks Review in Florida Tobacco Class Action

WASHINGTON, D.C.-A wide range of businesses could be subject to potentially bankrupting class action lawsuits if the Florida Supreme Court does not clarify a recent ruling that upheld class wide findings concerning cigarette manufacturers' conduct, even though the class included 700,000 smokers who used different products made by different manufacturers and claimed different health injuries, according to an amicus brief filed yesterday by the National Chamber Litigation Center (NCLC).

"The Florida Supreme Court needs to finish the job it started," said NCLC Senior Vice President Robin Conrad. "When it decertified the class action and overturned the outrageous punitive damages award, it should have thrown out the flawed and unfair class wide findings as well."

NCLC's brief asks the Florida Supreme Court to further act on its July 6, 2006 ruling in Howard A. Engle, M.D., et al., v. Liggett Group Incorporated, et al., that threw out the case's class action status and $145 billion punitive damages award, but upheld the jury's blanket findings concerning defendants' conduct. The jury found the defendants engaged in unspecified misconduct, but was not allowed to hear individualized evidence regarding the class of hundreds of thousands of people who smoked cigarettes for different periods, possessed varying knowledge about the health effects of smoking, and claimed various health injuries.

"Unless the court clarifies its earlier decision, automobile, health care, chemical, and numerous other industries will be similarly unable to fairly defend themselves against class action lawsuits based on the pre-determined decision of a single jury," Conrad said. "Florida will become a magnet for class action lawsuits thereby placing a significant burden on businesses."

NCLC, the public policy law firm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is a membership organization that advocates fair treatment of business in the courts and before regulatory agencies. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

View the amicus brief here: http://www.uschamber.com/nclc/caselist/briefsatoe.htm

# # #

06-132