A federal appeals panel on Friday heard a case that could affect dozens of tobacco cases pending in Florida—involving the interpretation of a Florida fee-shifting statute similar to Georgia’s rule.
The case heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is one of the so-called Engle progeny cases being pursued against tobacco companies in Florida. The cases get that label from a 2006 decision by the Florida Supreme Court, Engle v. Liggett Group Inc. That decision scuttled a class action by smokers that had garnered $145 billion in punitive damages at trial. But it also gave life to a new breed of individual suits.
