Cigarette makers face flood of Florida lawsuits

By Tom Brown

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. tobacco companies have been hit with thousands of new lawsuits in Florida from smokers and their families seeking compensation before Friday's court-imposed deadline for filing individual claims in what is shaping up as a major challenge for the industry.

The deadline was set after the Florida Supreme Court overturned a $145 billion punitive award in a class-action case against the cigarette makers but cleared the way for individuals to proceed with their own lawsuits against tobacco companies in state court.

"The Supreme Court found that cigarette manufacturers are negligent and that their products are defective, unreasonably dangerous, addictive and the cause of 16 separate diseases in human beings," said Ed Sweda, lead attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University in Boston.

"This is a major serious problem for the tobacco companies to be facing here," he said. "We're very much encouraged."

When the state Supreme Court refused to reinstate the $145 billion award last year it was seen as a huge victory for the tobacco industry.

But smokers suing now could benefit from the high court's approval of trial court decisions that smoking causes diseases and that cigarette companies sold defective products and concealed the truth about the dangers.

William Ohlemeyer, the executive in charge of smoking and health litigation at Philip Morris, the largest U.S. cigarette maker, said there were now about 1,800 cases pending against the company in Florida, putting the state at forefront of the battle between smokers and the industry.

"About half of them are wrongful death cases, which is to say that the smoker is deceased," Ohlemeyer told Reuters of the suits targeting Philip Morris.