American Medical Association urges Florida Supreme Court to uphold tobacco verdict

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 29 Jun 2004 - 9:00 PDT

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The AMA (American Medical Association) recently joined several other public interest organizations in a friend-of-the-court brief backing a Florida class-action victory against the tobacco industry.

The July 2000 verdict fined the tobacco industry $145 billion in punitive damages, sending a strong message to tobacco companies, which still reap substantial profits from a product known to be addictive and lethal.

The damages awarded in the case could now be overturned because an appellate court reconsidered the case's class certification. The brief urges the Florida Supreme Court to overturn the appellate court's ruling and make the tobacco defendants pay for the damages that many Americans have paid for with their lives.

"As long as the tobacco industry profits from business as usual, they must bear responsibility for the human suffering and economic costs that result from tobacco-related illnesses," said AMA Trustee Ronald M. Davis, MD. "Hundreds of thousands of tobacco-related deaths will continue for years to come as long as the tobacco industry remains undeterred from producing and marketing their deadly products."

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/1615-8673.html

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