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$10M Tobacco Verdict Tossed Over Atty s Improper Remarks
Law360 (July 14, 2021, 10:19 PM EDT) A Florida appeals court on Wednesday reversed a $10 million judgment won by the daughter of a smoker who died of lung cancer in a case against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., finding that her attorney had been warned in four previous instances not to make inflammatory arguments at trial.
A Fourth District Court of Appeal panel said objections levied by the tobacco giant should have been sustained when Deborah Neff s attorney Scott Schlesinger told the jury that R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris USA Inc. ran an enterprise of death and that their defense was the last refuge of the scoundrel. .
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$37M verdict reversed after lawyer calls makers of tobacco soulless enterprise of death
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A lawyer’s literary references and descriptive comments in closing arguments has doomed a $37 million verdict obtained against two tobacco companies, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Philip Morris USA Inc.
In a June 30 opinion, the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a $37 million verdict awarded to widower Richard Mahfuz, whose wife died of lung cancer.
The improper argument included references to George Orwell’s dystopian novel
1984 and Oscar Wilde’s book
The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Law360 identified the plaintiffs lawyer who made the improper comment as Scott P. Schlesinger of the Schlesinger Law Offices. The appeals court said the counsel improperly:
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Fla. Atty s Fiery 1984 Talk Gets $37M Tobacco Verdict Tossed
Law360 (June 30, 2021, 9:17 PM EDT) A Florida state appeals panel Wednesday reversed a $37 million judgment against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Philip Morris USA Inc., ordering a new trial because a plaintiff attorney inflamed the jury by comparing the companies to the totalitarian state depicted in George Orwell s 1984.
The judges said Scott P. Schlesinger of Schlesinger Law Offices crossed the line when he called the tobacco companies a soulless enterprise of death and rotten to the core during his closing arguments. As with the other comments discussed above, the comments had no purpose but to inflame the jury, the decision by the Fourth District.