Source: https://www.lexislegalnews.com/mealeys-tobacco/news?article_sidebar=1&facet=&page=8&q=
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 12:33:46+00:00

Document:
PHILADELPHIA — For reasons “largely described” in his May decision dismissing allegations of fraudulent concealment and conspiracy to conceal against tobacco manufacturers R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and ITG Brands LLC, a Pennsylvania federal judge on June 26 granted a request for dismissal by a loose-leaf tobacco manufacturer defendant in the same case (Ted. A. McCracken v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al., No. 17-4495, E.D. Pa., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106323).
ORLANDO, Fla. — Counsel for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. on June 22 successfully lobbied a Florida judge for a mistrial after learning that an expert witness for a wrongful death plaintiff received the deposition of a decedent’s ex-husband after the expert witness was deposed by counsel for the tobacco company (Brinda Coates, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Lois Stucky, v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al., No. 1997-CA-004541-O, Fla. 9th Jud. Cir., Orange Co.).
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal on July 11 directed a trial court to reinstate the full $37.5 million award rendered by jurors following a third trial in an Engle progeny case against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., pursuant to the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling in Schoeff v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Jan Grossman, No. 4D13-3949, Fla. App., 4th Dist., 2018 Fla. App. LEXIS 9809).
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The record-keeping requirements of the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (CCTA) “do not turn on any territorial determination,” and therefore, businesses incorporated under the laws of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska must still maintain data on the purchasers of cigarettes on tribal land, the District of Columbia U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled July 3 (Ho-Chunk Inc., et al. v. Jeff Sessions, No. 17-5140, D.C. Dir., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 18107).
MINNEAPOLIS — A motion to transfer a constitutional challenge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “deeming rule” was granted June 26 by a Minnesota federal judge who found that the case should proceed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Jen Hoban, et al., v. United States Food and Drug Administration, et al., No. 18-269, D. Minn., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106188).
HARRISBURG, Pa. — In a June 22 ruling, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court found that despite a “rational basis” for the Pennsylvania General Assembly to define an e-cigarette device and e-cigarette liquid containing nicotine as “tobacco products,” a state statute does not support authorizing the Department of Revenue (DOR) to levy separate taxes for each separately packaged component e-cigarette part (East Coast Vapor LLC v. Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, No. 515 M.D. 2017, Pa. Cmwlth).
MIAMI — A plaintiff’s assertions of Engle class membership were rejected June 22 by a Florida jury, which rendered a verdict in favor of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. on allegations of wrongful death by the son of a smoker (Mark Cohen, as Personal Representative to the Estate of Shirley Cohen v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al., No. 14-018677CA23, Fla. Cir., 11th Jud., Dade Co.). VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In a June 22 order, the Florida Supreme Court declined to exercise jurisdiction over an Engle progeny case in view of Schoeff v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and accordingly let stand a $32.75 million compensatory and punitive damages award in favor of two tobacco plaintiffs (Philip Morris USA Inc., et al. v. Richard Boatright, et al., No. SC17-894, Fla. Sup., 2018 Fla. LEXIS 1265).
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A Florida jury on June 20 awarded the widow of a smoker $3 million in compensatory damages in an Engle progeny lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (Jacqueline Burgess, Personal Representative of the Estate of Johnny Burgess v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., No. 562009CA006060, Fla. Cir., 19th Jud., St. Lucie Co.). VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The widow of a smoker who was awarded $4 million in compensatory damages in November 2014 won an additional $500,000 on June 15 following a new trial on her entitlement to seek punitive damages against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (Debra Perrotto, as personal representative of the estate of Nicholas Perrotto v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al., No. 502007CA023841XXXXMB, Fla. 15th Jud Cir., Palm Beach Co.). VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In a June 13 per curium decision, the First District Florida Court of Appeal let stand a jury’s award of $18.7 million on behalf of the widow of a smoker in an Engle progeny wrongful death case (Philip Morris USA Inc. v. Mary Faricy Pardue on behalf of the estate of John H. Faricy, No. 1D17-959, Fla. App., 1st Dist., 2018 Fla. App. LEXIS 8282).
ALBANY, N.Y. — In a June 7 ruling, the New York Court of Appeals found that enforcement of a law that requires retailers on reservation land to prepay taxes on cigarette sales to patrons who are not members of the Seneca Nation of Indians does not run afoul of Indian Law Section 6 or the Buffalo Creek Treaty of 1842 (Eric White, et al. v. Eric Schneiderman, et al., No. 59, N.Y. App., 2018 N.Y. LEXIS 1353).
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A request for a mistrial by two tobacco companies was denied June 2 when a Florida judge instead found that an initial, inconsistent verdict by jurors in an Engle progeny case and $8 million award for wrongful death could stand; nearly one week later, on the evening of June 8, the jury rendered a punitive damage award of $12 million (Herbert Landi v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al., No. CACE08025814, Fla. Cir., 17th Jud., Broward Co.). VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
MIAMI — A Florida jury on June 6 sided with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. when, after brief deliberations, it found that a plaintiff’s husband — who died in 1994 of lung cancer — was not a member of the Engle class (Eulalia Lopez v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al., No. 2008-076453-CA-01., Fla. Cir., 11th Jud., Miami-Dade Co.).
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida judge erred in refusing to stay execution of a judgment where R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. complied with Florida’s bond-cap statute by posting a $15 million bond, the Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal ruled June 6 (R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Jan Grossman, No. 4D18-627, Fla. App., 4th Dist.).
DALLAS — In a June 4 order, a federal judge in Texas agreed to send a lawsuit that questions the constitutionality of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “deeming rule” to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for further adjudication (Rave Salon Inc., et al. v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, et al., No. 18-237, N.D. Texas).
MIAMI — In a per curiam opinion issued June 6, the Third District Florida Court of Appeal rejected a challenge by the widow of a smoker of a July 2017 transfer of her wrongful death claims against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. from Miami-Dade to Martin County (Phyllis Muro v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., No. 3D17-1765, Fla. App., 3rd Dist., 2018 Fla. App. LEXIS 7820).
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In oral arguments on June 6 in a dispute over a vacated $20 million compensatory and punitive damage award, Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara J. Pariente told an attorney for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. that the relationship between a plaintiff and her late mother, who died of lung cancer, was so exceptionally close that “every factor” points to “a substantial verdict for her pain and suffering, and loss of companionship” (Gwendolyn E. Odom v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., No. SC17-563, Fla. Sup.).
MELBOURNE, Fla. — An Engle progeny case ended in a mistrial on May 30 after jurors empaneled in the 18th Judicial Circuit Court for Brevard County, Fla., announced that they were unable to reach a verdict (Pearl Morse, as Personal Representative for the Estate of Jay S. Morse v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., No. 08-CA-6848, Fla. 18th Jud. Cir., Brevard Co.).

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