Engle Lawyer Dies at 70

Susan Rosenblatt, who with her husband and law partner, Stanley Rosenblatt, represented plaintiffs in the notorious Engle class-action lawsuit, died Nov. 14, reports The New York Times.  

In the Engle case, The Rosenblatts argued that the tobacco industry had knowingly addicted smokers and failed to warn them adequately about the dangers of its products.

In 2000, a jury awarded several representative plaintiffs $12.7 million in compensatory damages and the whole class almost $145 billion in punitive damages—the largest such award in history.

In 2003 a Florida appeals panel threw it out, finding, among other things, that the case should not have been declared a class action because each smoker’s case is unique.

In 2006 the Florida Supreme Court ruled that individuals who wanted to pursue cases could invoke some of the original jury’s findings, including that smoking causes lung cancer, that nicotine in cigarettes is addictive and that the cigarette companies concealed information about smoking’s health effects.