South Florida Lawyers Win $36M Tobacco Verdict
The jury awarded 99 percent of the liability to the tobacco companies.
October 25, 2017 at 11:51 AM
3 minute read
South Florida lawyers won a $36 million tobacco verdict with only 1 percent comparative fault assigned to the smoker who picked up the addictive as a teenager in the 1950s.
The result wasn't unusual for lead plaintiffs attorneys Gary Paige of Gordon & Doner in Davie and Randy Rosenblum of Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum in Miami. Paige has won a number of similar verdicts, including a $35 million award upheld last week on appeal, and often the defendants in his cases are found liable for more than 90 percent of the damages.
“The reason why I believe these juries do find very low comparative fault is they have to consider the smoker and the world that he grew up in and the world he was exposed to, which is very different than today,” said Paige, whose trial team included firm colleague Cassandra Castellano-Lombard, and Richard Lantinberg and Jay Plotkin of the Wilner Firm in Jacksonville.
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Trending Stories
- 1The Law Firm Disrupted: For Big Law Names, Shorter is Sweeter
- 2Wine, Dine and Grind (Through the Weekend): Summer Associates Thirst For Experience in 'Real Matters'
- 3'That's Disappointing': Only 11% of MDL Appointments Went to Attorneys of Color in 2023
- 4What We Know About the Kentucky Judge Killed in His Chambers
- 5'I'm Staying Everything': Texas Bankruptcy Judge Halts Talc Trials Against J&J
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250