$591 Million Verdict Orders Big Tobacco to Fund Louisiana Smoker Cessation Program

For nearly four decades, the tobacco industry publicly denied that cigarettes were addictive, even as its own internal research documented nicotine dependence. In Louisiana, a class of smokers who became addicted before September 1, 1988, sued five major companies -- American Tobacco, Brown and Williamson, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, and Lorillard -- alleging the companies had fraudulently concealed what they knew about addiction and harm.

The case, Scott v. American Tobacco, was filed in the mid-1990s in Orleans Parish Civil District Court. It took fourteen years to reach a final resolution. Russ M. Herman and Stephen J. Herman of Herman, Herman, Katz and Cotlar, LLP served as counsel for the plaintiff class, working alongside co-counsel from several Louisiana firms.

At trial, the plaintiffs focused on internal tobacco-company documents showing that executives were aware nicotine was addictive long before the surgeon general issued public warnings. The class asked the jury not for individual compensatory damages but for a different remedy: a court-supervised, ten-year smoking-cessation program funded by the defendants and available statewide to eligible class members.

In 2004, the Orleans Parish jury returned a verdict of $591 million, directing that money toward the cessation program. It was among the largest tobacco verdicts in the country and the largest class-action verdict in Louisiana history at the time. The Lawdragon Hall of Fame editorial profile of Russ Herman noted the result and described the case as one of the defining victories of his career.

The tobacco companies appealed. In April 2010, the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal upheld liability but recalculated the funding formula based on revised estimates of eligible class members, reducing the judgment to approximately $241.5 million (including a five-percent administrative fee). The appellate court also adjusted when interest began to accrue. The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in June 2011, and the defendants ultimately deposited funds to establish the Louisiana Smoking Cessation Trust, which provided cessation services to the plaintiff class.