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| In 2007, Lieff Cabraser attorneys,
with local co-counsel, obtained a $50
million verdict against Daimler Chrysler in a wrongful death
action. Our firm has participated in over forty-two $100 million-plus
settlements and verdicts, including eleven
cases in excess of $1 billion. |
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on lawsuits of widespread public interest and settlements in class
actions, please click here
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Tobacco
and Smokers Litigation |
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| Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP serves as Lead Counsel in a nationwide smokers class
action in the federal court for the Eastern District of
New York, In re Simon II Litigation, No. 00-CV-5332
(JBW). |
| The Simon case alleges that over
a course of decades the cigarette companies manufactured
and sold cigarettes in a dangerous condition because the
cigarettes were not accompanied with adequate warnings and
the cigarette companies fraudulently denied and concealed
from smokers the significant health risks, including nicotine
addiction, of smoking. |
| The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in
New York has vacated Judge Weinsteins certification
of a class of cigarette smokers. |
| On September 19, 2002, the Honorable Jack
B. Weinstein, a judge in the federal court in Brooklyn,
New York, issued an order certifying a class of cigarette
smokers. The class consisted of: |
All persons residing in the
United States, or who were residents of the United
States at the time of their deaths, who smoke or smoked Defendants cigarettes,
and who were first diagnosed by a physician with one or more of the following
diseases from April 9, 1993 through the date notice to the class is ordered
disseminated: lung cancer; laryngeal cancer; lip cancer;
tongue cancer; mouth cancer; esophageal cancer; kidney cancer; pancreatic cancer;
bladder cancer; ischemic heart disease; cerebrovascular disease; aortic aneurysm;
peripheral vascular disease; emphysema; chronic bronchitis; or, chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (also called chronic air flow obstruction). |
| This means that if you are a resident of
the United States, or you are the legal representative of
someone who was a resident of the United States at the time
of their deaths, and you or the decedent you represent smoked
defendants cigarettes, and you or the decedent were
diagnosed by a physician with one of the diseases listed
above at any time after April 9, 1993 until the present,
you or the decedent were a member of the class certified
by Judge Weinstein. |
| The courts class certification order
was limited to punitive damages only. Punitive damages are
damages intended to punish a wrongdoer for its serious misconduct.
The purpose of this case is to prove that the class as a
whole (including you) is entitled to an award of punitive
damages for the serious wrongful conduct of the cigarette
companies. |
| The cigarette companies appealed Judge
Weinsteins class certification order to the United
States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York
City. All briefing was completed concerning the appeal,
and oral argument took place on November 20, 2003. The cigarette
companies asked the appellate court to reverse or vacate
Judge Weinsteins class certification order. We argued,
on behalf of the certified class, that Judge Weinsteins
class certification order was appropriate and should be
affirmed by the appellate court. |
| On May 6, 2005, the Court of Appeals "vacated" Judge Weinstein's class certification order. This means the that the Second Circuit has concluded that Judge Weinstein's certification of the punitive damages class was wrong under the law. Our request that all of the judges of the Second Circuit reconsider the rejection of Judge Weinstein's class certification order was denied on August 4, 2005. There is no longer a class. |
| On February 6, 2006, U.S. District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein dismissed the Simon case, and stayed the entry of judgment for 30 days. The Court ruled that if no further motion to stay the order of dismissal is received within 30 days, the Clerk of the Court shall enter a judgment for defendants. To read a copy of the Court's order of dismissal, click here. |
| Lieff Cabraser represented the Attorneys'
General of Massachusetts, Illinois, Louisiana, Indiana,
Rhode Island and New Hampshire and 18 cities and counties
in California, including the City and County of San Francisco,
the City of Los Angeles and the City of San Jose, in litigation
against Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and other cigarette
manufacturers. The suits were part of the $206 billion settlement
announced in November 1998 between the tobacco industry
and the states' attorney generals. In California alone,
our clients will receive an estimated $12.5 billion over
the next 25 years. |
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KEY
FACT |
| Since
the MSA was signed, tobacco usage in California
has dropped significantly, by 60% from 2000
to 2002. Californians consume less than half
the tobacco compared to the national average,
and only 16% of Californians smoke. |
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| The states, cities and
counties sought both to recover the public
costs of treating smoking-related diseases
and to require the tobacco industry to undertake
extensive modifications of its marketing
and promotion activities in order to
reduce teenage smoking. The marketing curbs,
part of the Master Settlement Agreement
("MSA") with the tobacco industry,
consist of bans on billboards, transit ads,
cartoon characters, targeting of minors,
youth access to free samples, and paid-for
product placement in movies, TV shows, plays
and concerts. Tobacco brand-name sponsorships
are also limited. |
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| On December 9, 1998, California Superior
Court Judge Ronald S. Prager approved the final judgment
between the State of California and the tobacco industry. The
court found the "settlement is fair, just and proper,
and will benefit all the citizens of the State of California. |
| Commenting one year after approval of the
settlement, Owen Clements, Chief of Special Litigation for
the San Francisco City Attorneys' Office, observed, "Just
a few years ago, you'd see a dozen tobacco billboards en
route to any airport, not to mention cigarette t-shirts
and all sorts of products. Now they're vanishing. They're
not a part of the cultural landscape anymore." |
| On June 6, 2002, in a lawsuit filed by
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer against R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Company for violating the MSA, California Superior
Court Judge Ronald Prager found that R.J. Reynolds had sought
to avoid losing market share through an aggressive ad campaign
that exposed teens to its advertising to the same degree
as adult smokers. The Court ordered R.J. Reynolds to change
its marketing practices and fined the company $20 million.
To read a copy of this Order (in Adobe Acrobat format),
click
here. |
| In 1997 in the California tobacco litigation,
Lieff Cabraser served document requests on R.J. Reynolds
seeking their current marketing data for Red Kamel. After
months of litigation, R.J. Reynolds finally produced the
documents. Inside the scores of boxes of documents produced
and reviewed was the Project SCUM document. |
| The document showed that R.J. Reynolds
targeted San Francisco area gay and homeless communities
for special marketing efforts in the mid-1990s. The plan
was labeled "Project SCUM" for "Subculture
Urban Marketing." |
| Not only is the document offensive because
it reveals targeting of the homeless and gay communities,
it also used the code words "rebellious" and "Generation
X" which allegedly referred to youth targeting. In
late 2002, the American Legacy Foundation launched a public
awareness campaign concerning Project SCUM, and set up a
website for the campaign: www.projectscum.org. |
| To read a copy of the Project SCUM document
(in Adobe Acrobat format), click
here. |
| Lieff
Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP is a fifty-plus
attorney law firm that has represented plaintiffs nationwide
since 1972. We have offices in San Francisco, New York
and Nashville. We represent plaintiffs in class and
group actions and in individual lawsuits in cases involving
substantial losses. For the last five years, the National
Law Journal has selected Lieff
Cabraser as one of the top plaintiffs' law firms in
the nation. |
| This website is sponsored by Lieff Cabraser
Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP, a national plaintiffs' law firm. |
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LIEFF CABRASER HEIMANN & BERNSTEIN, LLP |
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| Notice: Lieff
Cabraser attorneys provide legal advice and practice law for clients in
federal district courts throughout the United States and in state courts
where we are licensed to practice. In states in which our lawyers are not
licensed to practice, we have affiliations with local attorneys who serve
as co-counsel with our firm. Please read our disclaimer. |
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Copyright © 2008 Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein,
LLP |
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