Local Tobacco Trials Set Begin

The case to decide the first of more than 130 local OK cigarette smoker lawsuits will begin -- for the second time -- this week. The first trial in Koballa v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. ended in a mistrial in October after jurors said they couldn't agree on the word addiction, which was required to determine whether the company should be held liable for Stella Koballa's smoking-related illness.

Attorneys representing tobacco companies have been aggressively defending against large money verdicts the tobacco industry is being called upon to pay in about 8,000 similar cases. The flurry of lawsuits has been filed across the state since 2006, when the Florida Supreme Court dismantled a class action judgment that awarded $145 billion to smokers.

"R.J. Reynolds must bear responsibility for its actions," William Ogle, a Daytona Beach lawyer suing tobacco companies on behalf of smokers said in a recent letter to the court.

Stella Koballa, 77, of Daytona Beach smoked for more than 48 years, beginning in 1948 when she was a teenager. Her attorneys argue Koballa suffered lung cancer -- which she survived -- and other health problems because of her long addiction to cigarettes.

"It was the glamorous thing to do," Koballa said on the witness stand in her first trial, which lasted more than a week. "All the glamorous people smoked."

Jury selection will begin today in the Deland courtroom of Circuit Judge Robert K. Rouse.

If last years' trial was any indication, picking a jury will take two days.

Three weeks have been set aside for the case to be tried. According to court documents and similar suits that have already gone to trial, the tobacco company's lawyers are expected to argue Koballa's health problems were her own fault.

Her legal team has argued against the trial court allowing a defense strategy that would put the blame on Koballa's choice to smoke, saying the argument will prejudice her case.

It remains to be seen how the strategies will play out in court. And even if Koballa prevails with a verdict in her favor, the case will face legal challenges.

This week, the first of thousands of pending lawsuits in the state was appealed to the state Supreme Court.

R.J. Reynolds on Tuesday asked justices to reverse a $28.3 million verdict won by the family of a smoker who died in Pensacola.

The 1st District Court of Appeal affirmed the verdict in December, siding with the family of Benny Martin, who died of lung cancer in 1995.

The tobacco company's appeal argues the damages are excessive.

Koballa's lawyers want to argue that the tobacco company should be required to pay punitive damages, saying the company "deliberately carried out a campaign of doubt and disinformation which clouded the issue for addicted smokers," according to attorney Ogle.

In the first trial, Koballa said she has cravings, but hasn't smoked a cigarette since she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1996. Subsequent surgery removed part of her lung.

The tobacco company's lead lawyer, Ben Reid, argued in Koballa's first trial that just because she had cancer didn't mean it was caused by cigarettes. Among the reasons he cited to show her addiction may not have caused the disease, Reid pointed out that Koballa had quit.

"She was able to stop," he said. "She was in control of her smoking."