Tobacco+Lawsuits

During the past century, smoking tobacco has become very popular. However, not only is it popular, but it is also very harmful. Smoking tobacco can result in cancer and other severe diseases. Cigarettes contain nicotine, a highly addictive drug. Some people are not aware of the risks when they start smoking, and that is where the confusion starts.

Over the years, individual suits have been filed lawsuits on tobacco companies, so that they compensate for the injuries that have been cause by the use of tobacco products. The thing is, during the past 50 years, the effects of smoking were not as clearly presented to the public. Now that the consequences are revealed, people need to hold someone responsible for deaths and diseases.

__**Tobacco Lawsuits Effects**__ Stockholders- "The tobacco company shareholders lose money because of the company's misleading practices" (Barbera). Since the company has to compensate so many people, the value of its stocks is decreasing, and that is why the stockholders are mad. In 1998, Phillip Morris stockholders charged the company $100 million for their losses.

Insurance companies- Many health-insurance companies have filed lawsuits charging tobacco companies with trying to addict their clients, costing them millions for medical expenses.

Flight attendants- Over 300 flight attendants (in Florida) have sued tobacco companies to receive compensation for injuries due to their exposure to second-hand smoke on airplanes. Together, Big Tobacco had to pay over $350 million.

Federal Government- Officials in the American government have sued tobacco companies in order to receive money that will go to charity.

Canada- A few years back in Canada, the Canadian government has sued a tobacco company because the cigarettes were smuggled in order to avoid paying taxes. The suit is still pending, but it is estimated that the taxpayers have been defrauded by $1 billion.

media type="youtube" key="OSJ61t1t7Lo&hl=en" height="355" width="425" This video is about a man that loses his wife because of tobacco. He sued the company, and he won.

In the 20th century, most people that filed lawsuits on tobacco companies lost. However, now people are winning more frequently. This fact was very surprising to me, because I thought that people could excuse themselves by saying that they are uneducated then, but not now. When one wins a suit against a tobacco company, the company has to pay very much money to compensate the smoker or his/her family.

media type="youtube" key="whqXIkzqpZQ" width="433" height="358" This is an ad for finding a lawyer that could help you with your case.

__**Citations**__ http://www.braytonlaw.com/practiceareas/tobacco.htm http://www.slate.com/id/1005187/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Lawsuits http://www.fairness.com/resources/category?node=406 [|http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bp3.blogger.com/_XkyaXZ1rRaU/Rf1Y20SlpEI/AAAAAAAAASY/cmOKw0UvQ8I/s] [|400/smokers%2Blungs.JPG&imgrefurl=http://firstaid4free.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html&h=192&w=400&sz=19&hl=en&] [|start=1&um=1&tbnid=gS-Z57NwSvDgSM:&tbnh=60&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlungs%2Bbefore%2Band%2Bafter%2Bsmoking] [|%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG] http://youtube.com/watch?v=OSJ61t1t7Lo http://youtube.com/watch?v=whqXIkzqpZQ