Two Florida law firms are taking on 660 individual lawsuits against U.S. tobacco companies that were part of a failed class-action suit.

The Florida Supreme Court last year ruled that the $145 billion damage award in the class-action suit was excessive and the lawsuits must be decided on individually, the Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union said.

Two law firms, Wilner and Block and Farah and Farah, last week filed 660 individual lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville.

Attorney Norwood "Woody" Wilner told the Times-Union he hoped the court will assign all the suits to one federal judge, who would then agree to let the cases be tried 25 cases at a time.

Plaintiffs, which include a former model who was "The Winston Man" in many ads, will have to prove how much they were harmed by smoking, the newspaper said.

Wilner said it will be about a year before the first cases go to trial. // Copyright 2007 by United Press International


Publication date: 28 September 2007   

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