Here is a brief overview of some of the key legal landmarks in efforts to call the tobacco industry to account in court. Dropped by the plaintiff 12 years later, setting the precedent for the industry's case-busting tactics of wearing plaintiffs out financially. In the US, Eva Cooper sues RJ Reynolds for her husband's death from lung cancer.
Court rules that there was no evidence that smoking was to blame.
Suit brought in the US against Philip Morris by John Ross, who lost his larynx to cancer. Seven US tobacco liability suits filed. Philip Morris wins Ross case. We are, then, in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug effective in the release of stress mechanisms. Donna Shrimp sues New Jersey bell telephone for not protecting her from second-hand smoke.