Big Tobacco Verdict Is In

Little bit of a rant here.

Okay, the verdict is in on the Big Tobacco trial we have been covering under the watchful eye of Judge Jeff Streitfeld. The jury came back with a more modest number, 8 million, for the death of Stuart Hess from nicotine addiction. It is a lot less than the lawyers asked for, 130 million, and a lot more than I would have given. I would have given monopoly money. Not that Big Tobacco wasn't full of deceit or deception, but...

The first articles about the dangers of tobacco only appeared in the New York Times in 1965. Sure, the companies told you if you smoke you would get laid, it would not hurt you, and every business deal would fall into your lap and you would become a millionaire. And I have swampland in the Everglades that is the next Aventura.

Maybe the smokers needed to watch more of Gunsmoke, then they would have seen that snake oil salesman dude pulling a buggy full of ludicrous potions that are today being pushed by the same guys who are reincarnated selling you those weight loss machines on paid programming in the middle of the nite. I am with WC Fields here, that there is a sucker born every minute. People damn well should have known better. Yeah, that's how I feel. And it is not being a hard ass. It is having been a revolutionary my entire life, never buying into the pablum that our government or corporate America ever gave us. Go back and read The Waste Makers by Vance Packard. Let's face it. We have never been told the truth. Not now. Not ever.

Question authority, As Don Corleone said: "Listen, whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting he's the traitor. Don't forget that."

Never doubted that the story would go national, as it could be the first of some 8.000 suits on the subject, and you can link back to some of the original stories here. Guess I am disqualified from some future juries.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/business/19smoking.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Little Guys Win Big in Condo Suit

You are looking at Buckley Towers in North Miami, just south of Broward, still standing after all these years. Barely.

We know that South Florida is the center of Condo America. And many of them are populated by the elderly; senior citizens in the Fall of their lives. And they cannot afford to take a fall. So when Buckley Towers in North Miami came apart at the seams after Hurricane Wilma, the residents did not get angry. The commandos revolted, with lawyers leading the charge no less. Good ones. Guys like Daniel Rosenbaum.

Yes, it is a forty year old condo, but it was not meant to have a windstorm named Wilma blow it down after four decades. A global insurance giant, QBE, is going to have to pay the price. 20 million dollars worth. They did not want to though. Too bad.

Katzman Garfinkel Rosenbaum, the law firm representing the homeowners, hailed last Friday's verdict, after a two week federal trial, as a major precedent in hurricane insurance cases. They say it could have impact in New Orleans, Texas, and other venues where storms have wreaked havoc on man-made buildings. Attorneys for the insurance company blamed the building for having shoddy construction. Can’t say that would surprise me either. But that is what you pay insurance for, so you get help when you are hurting.

Unfortunately, that this went all the way to trial means that the big insurers were trying to screw the little insureds. More on this in today’s South Florida Business Journal. http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/02/09/daily56.html

Quarter Pounders for a Quarter

Let's just call this piece our photograph of the day. A nice, juicy, cheeseburger. Anyway, McDonald's wants you to eat Quarter Pounders with Cheese all day today.

For one day only, when you buy one Quarter Pounder with Cheese at the regular price, you can buy a second one for just 25 cents. Maybe we can buy all the jurors lunch there today, and save the county taxpayers money.

Last week, Denny's gave away free grand slam breakfasts all day, and the lines outside to get in were a half a block long. And that was just all the secretaries in my office lining up to get there. Maybe this recession is a good thing. Let me know when Morton's is giving away free steaks.

We just finished that suit holding cigarette companies liable for smoking. When does the one begin holding McDonalds liable for obesity begin? Hell knows none of us are responsible for anything we do ourselves anymore.

I think I should dedicate this piece to Jon Katz at the Underdog Blog which you can link to on our right sidebar. A very well respected blogger, Mr. Katz today has a blog about his vegan, natural tai' chi' lifestyle, and the importance of a lawyer having a sound mind and fit body. I guess I fail on both counts. Pass the fries.

Phillip Morris Suit Faces Music of the Jury

The Broward County Courthouse is smoking again. And Philip Morris may be lit up by a jury. Big Tobacco lawsuits are back in court.

Tonya Alanez of the Sun Sentinel reports in today's edition that the complex lawsuit is back in the courtroom of Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld. Jurors heard opening statements yesterday.

It is the first such case to go to trial since the Florida Supreme Court threw out a record $145 billion class-action verdict in 2006. This one involves a Cooper City widow whose husband died of lung cancer twelve years ago.

The Florida Supreme Court did uphold the original jury's findings that tobacco companies concealed the dangers of smoking. But each case has to be decided individually. So we have about twenty trillion to try. Okay, but the first time the NY Times reported smoking was dangerous was in a front page story in 1965.

Will a new breed of jurors mandate more individual responsibility for smokers who knowingly consumed a dangerous product in the face of obvious risks? Or will they conclude people were wrongfully induced into thinking that by smoking 'better tasting' cigarettes they were going to get laid every nite? Who was right, who was wrong, and whose fault was it?

This is the second attempt to launch this trial, but its part of a countless process to use the courts to hold manufacturers of dangerous products liable for the consequences of their recklessness. The US Supreme Court opened its October term with a dispute over whether federal regulation of cigarettes prevents smokers from suing tobacco companies under state law for allegedly deceptive advertising of "light" cigarettes. So there are more suits on the way.

Philip Morris chose "to conspire, to conceal the dangers of smoking from the public," Hess' attorney, Adam Trop, said in his opening statement. And if they knew, whose to say they would they have stopped? Millions of cigarettes are still consumed today.

Philip Morris' attorney, Kenneth Reilly, said Hess could have stopped smoking, but chose to continue. But if they had better information, truer information, at their disposal, might they not have made more educated choices???

This is a case with far reaching and dramatic legal issues of enormous dimension for our entire community. Unlike Anna Nicole Smith, it won't make CNN 24/7. The judge will not cry on the bench over the plaintiff's passing, and he will not wind up on the Larry King Show. But this case will draw some national attention and provide for compelling drama over a fascinating legal principle. If you are in the courthouse, it is worth checking out.

Iscoe's Firm Files Suit Against AstraZeneca's Seroquel

Gary Thomas Iscoe, pictured to the right, a founding partner of Steinger, Iscoe and Greene, PA, has filed a federal lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on behalf of three clients whose diabetes was allegedly caused by AstraZeneca's drug Seroquel.

Seroquel (quetiapine) is a pharmaceutical drug in the class of atypical anti-psychotics, approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1997. Antipsychotic drugs are used to treat symptoms of schizophrenia which include hearing voices, seeing things, sensing things that are not there, mistaken beliefs, and paranoia. Seroquel is also used in the treatment of mania associated with bipolar disorder.

Seroquel has been linked to diabetes, obesity, and high cholesterol by the American Diabetes Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

Only a few days ago, in a Bloomberg news article dated January 16th, Bloomberg posted the following article stating, "AstraZeneca Plc's antipsychotic drug Seroquel raised by almost 400 percent the risk of developing diabetes when compared with first-generation medications in its class…"

A 2004 article published in Psychiatric Services, a journal of the American Psychiatric Association, reported the increased risk in males who were exposed to Seroquel for at least 60 days. The study, which involved 1,629 patients, compared the exposure of a newer class of antipsychotics including Clozapine and Seroquel with an older class of drugs.

Founded in 1997, Steinger, Iscoe & Greene is a plaintiffs' litigation law firms of near 20 attorneys and 100 legal support staff and investigators. Steinger, Iscoe & Greene has offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Port St Lucie.

The suit has been filed in the United States District Court Southern District of Florida for the 15th Judicial Circuit.