Tobacco Industry Dealt Another Major Blow Supreme Court Ruling Makes It Easier For Florida To Win Massive Lawsuit
The U.S. Supreme Court handed the tobacco industry a major setback Monday when it effectively upheld the constitutionality of a Florida statute specifically designed to make it easier for the state to win a massive lawsuit against the $50 billion-a-year industry.
The Florida suit alleges that the industry is liable for expenses the state incurred treating Medicaid recipients who have suffered smoking-related illnesses. Florida estimates these expenses have cost the state more than $1 billion since 1990.
Cigarette companies had urged the Supreme Court to review the 1994 law - one of only two in the United States and the strongest of its kind - claiming that it violated their rights to a fair trial by taking away defenses that they have used successfully in previous lawsuits.
Without giving any reasons, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a June 1996 decision of the Florida Supreme Court, which upheld the constitutionality of the law.
Florida officials said they were elated at the development. Florida filed its suit two years ago and it’s now scheduled for trial this summer.
“The decks are cleared for us to proceed to trial Aug. 4 and that’s where we’re headed,” said Dexter Douglass, the legal counsel for Florida’s Democratic governor Lawton Chiles.
Industry spokesmen tried to minimize the import of the Supreme Court’s position and they maintained that a jury ultimately will find no merit in the state’s case. Further, they said, they could again challenge the constitutionality of the law should they lose the Florida suit.
The Florida statute specifically provides that the companies cannot argue a so-called “assumption of risk” defense in any suit filed by the state to recover Medicaid expenses.
That defense centers on the concept that smokers are responsible for their own behavior and has proved persuasive in convincing jurors in individual product liability cases that they should not award damages to the plaintiffs.
The tobacco companies strenuously contend that the Florida law - or any judicial action that prohibit them from mounting this kind of a defense - denies them due process of law.
xxxx AT STAKE Medicaid costs attributable to smoking in Florida from 1990 to 1995 have been estimated at $1.4 billion.