ADVERTISEMENT 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...