Finance & Business

In the case of Engle vs. Tobacco Class-Action lawsuit, the lead plaintiff was Dr. Engle. Dr. Engle is a Miami Beach pediatrician who is in his seventies Dr. Engle claimed in his complaint that he was addicted to smoking and cannot give up or break the habit even though he has been diagnosed with life threatening illness such as emphysema and bronchial asthma in result of his smoking habits. Dr. Engle claims that he has seriously tried to quit smoking on numerous different occasions but the attempts have always failed and resulted in him being unsuccessful in his attempts to quit regardless of him putting forth the most serious effort. Dr. Engle hired attorney Stanley Rosenblatt to represent him and his case in a Florida court.

In December of 2006, the Florida Supreme Court shed new light into the Engle vs. The Tobacco Industry court case The Engle case had been working its way through the courts since the year of 1994. However, it was not until the year of 2006 that the Supreme Court upheld a history making jury verdict which resulted in finding Tobacco companies liable for smoking-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths. The stipulation of the matter was that smokers or their loved ones must bring and file individual suits in order to validate that smoking had rendered their lives in and to prove their allegations. This has resulted in major tobacco companies creating and setting aside a fund which contains hundreds of millions of dollars to be paid out to these individuals who have been harmed and who file their individual suits.

The Engle case brought landmark results It was brought to light by a jury determining that tobacco is unreasonably dangerous and harmful, tobacco results in numerous different types of cancer, nicotine is highly addictive, and tobacco companies have acted negligently since they were aware of these hazards. It was determined that tobacco companies intentionally withheld this important information from tobacco users. It was determined that tobacco can result in lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, and Buerger’s Disease.

The Florida Supreme Court upheld these findings and decisions It was stated that in the future, these findings would apply and would not have to be validated another time. As of now, there are more than six hundred million dollars set aside in the Engle Trust Fund. In order to claim a part of the Engle Trust Fund, you must file your own individual suit, as well as prove your allegations are in fact due to tobacco use. In order to qualify to file for the Engle Trust Fund, you must suffer from one of the following illnesses; aortic aneurysm, bladder cancer, cerebrovascular disease, stroke, cervical cancer, COPD, emphysema, coronary heart disease, heart attack, throat cancer, kidney cancer, lung cancer, oral cancer, pregnancy complications, pancreatic cancer, or stomach cancer. One of these conditions must be present and proven to be the result of tobacco use in order to even begin filing for the Engle Trust Fund.