Tobacco On Trial

Engle v. R.J. Reynolds et al. won't go on forever, as defense lawyers promise. It couldn't possibly last more than 75 years. Tops.

The Engle case is a class-action suit--the first ever tried against the tobacco industry--which means that the plaintiffs (in this instance, three) sue on behalf of themselves and others, united by a common complaint. The case bears the name of physician Howard Engle, who suffers from emphysema and was originally the lead plaintiff. For the case truly to run its course, say some legal experts, Florida would have to try each of the hundreds of thousands of complainants' suits individually--to corroborate the $145 billion aggregate penalty.

And who can bring those suits? Any one of the 500,000 or so Florida smokers who have been harmed by tobacco automatically belongs to the class action. If the case approaches a conclusion favorable to smokers, trial lawyers Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt in Miami, who are class counsel, will organize the plaintiffs.

In the meantime, Judge Robert Kaye will issue his final judgment on the jury's verdict. He will probably lower the penalty in order to stay within a Florida law that prevents juries from bankrupting defendant companies. The tobacco companies will ask him to overturn the verdict. Most likely he won't. Off to the appellate court, where the defendants will ask that the class be decertified, as other tobacco class actions have been before it. The case will be heard in Florida's Third District Court of Appeals and, from there, the state supreme court. Both have green-lighted parts of the case challenged by defendants but have yet to review the whole case.

If the appeals fail at the state level, the federal appeals system beckons. Optimists see a conclusion in a "few years."