LORILLARD TOBACCO COMPANY ("LORILLARD"), APPELLANT,
v.
MICHELLE MROZEK, IN RE: ENGLE PROGENY CASES, TOBACCO LITIGATION, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 2012-12-21
No. 1D11-4446
DAVIS and CLARK, JJ., concur.
106 So. 3d 479 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2012) Caution
Cited by 15 cases

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Synopsis

Lorillard appeals a $15.2 million judgment in a wrongful death case brought by Michelle Mrozek as an Engle class plaintiff. The court affirms, holding that Mrozek satisfied the class definition because her mother was addicted to nicotine cigarettes and died of lung cancer caused by smoking, regardless of whether her continued smoking involved a conscious choice.


Holding

Mrozek qualified as an Engle class plaintiff because her mother satisfied the class definition: she was addicted to nicotine cigarettes and contracted a disease (lung cancer) caused by cigarette smoking. Whether the smoker's continued smoking constituted a choice rather than a product of addiction is a question of comparative fault relevant to liability, not class membership.


Headnotes

[1] A plaintiff is an Engle class member if the decedent was addicted to nicotine-containing cigarettes and died from a disease caused by cigarette smoking, regardless of whe…

[2] The question of whether an addicted smoker continued to smoke after learning of health risks is a matter of comparative fault and liability, not class membership.

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Key Quotes

“The Engle class was defined as all Florida 'citizens and residents, and their survivors, who have suffered, presently suffer or who have died from diseases and medical conditions caused by their addiction to cigarettes that contain nicotine.'”

Establishes the controlling definition of the Engle class that Mrozek must satisfy

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Facts & Procedural History

Jacqueline Swann Miller, a Florida resident, smoked two packs of cigarettes daily from the 1940s until her death in December 1994 from lung cancer. Th…

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Opinion of the Court
MARSTILLER, J.

MARSTILLER, J.

A Duval County, Florida, jury awarded Michelle Mrozek (“Mrozek”) $3.9 million in compensatory damages and $11.3 million in punitive damages in her wrongful death suit against Lorillard Tobacco Company (“Lorillard”) for the death of her mother, Jacqueline Swann Miller, from lung cancer. The genesis of this litigation is a 1994 class action lawsuit against various cigarette manufacturers, including Lorillard, and tobacco industry organizations seeking damages for smoking-related illnesses and deaths. Mrozek’s lawsuit is one of thousands filed after the Florida Supreme Court, in Engle v. Liggett Group, Inc., 945 So.2d 1246 (Fla.2006), upheld the class action jury verdict on common issues relating to the defendants’ conduct, but decerti-fied the class for liability and damages purposes, allowing class plaintiffs to sue individually.1

Lorillard appeals Mrozek’s judgment, arguing that the trial court erred by (1) granting her partial summary judgment on the issue of whether she is an Engle class plaintiff; (2) instructing the jury on concurrent causes; (3) admitting purported hearsay evidence showing Ms. Miller’s state of mind and attitude about smoking decades before her death; (4) admitting evidence of general misconduct by Loril-lard not specifically directed to Ms. Miller; and (5) permitting Mrozek to rely on factual findings from the Engle class action that the Florida Supreme Court deemed to have res judicata effect in subsequent individual suits for liability and damages. Finding no error by the trial court, we affirm on all issues. We briefly discuss only one, however — the court’s determination that Mrozek is an Engle class plaintiff.

The Engle class was defined as all Florida “ ‘citizens and residents, and their survivors, who have suffered, presently suffer or who have died from diseases and medical conditions caused by their addiction to cigarettes that contain nicotine.’ ” Engle, *481945 So.2d at 1256. The undisputed facts before the trial court when Mrozek moved for partial summary judgment were that Ms. Miller contracted and died of lung cancer caused, within a reasonable degree of medical certainty, by her two-pack-a-day cigarette smoking. Ms. Miller, a Florida resident, began smoking in the 1940s and continued smoking until her death in December 1994. She was addicted to the nicotine in the cigarettes she smoked. From these facts, the trial court determined that Ms. Miller — and thus, Mro-zek — satisfied the Engle class definition, and that there remained no disputed factual issues to send to the jury.2

Lorillard contends that a significant factual issue remains, precluding summary judgment as to class membership. The issue, Lorillard argues, is whether Ms. Miller’s illness and death were caused by her addiction specifically, or by her choice to continue smoking.

We disagree that choice is relevant to class membership. The class definition requires only that the smoker is/was addicted to cigarettes containing nicotine, and contracted or died from a disease caused by cigarette smoking. Whether the addicted individual kept smoking after learning of cigarettes’ deleterious health effects is a question of comparative fault, and thus, of liability to be determined at trial. Indeed, in this case, the jury found Ms. Miller 35 percent responsible for her death. As to class membership, however, the undisputed facts showed Ms. Miller was addicted to cigarettes and died of lung cancer, a disease caused by cigarette smoking. She therefore satisfied the requirements for membership in the Engle class, and the trial court correctly granted Mrozek partial summary judgment on that issue.

AFFIRMED.

DAVIS and CLARK, JJ., concur.


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Cited By

  • Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Alexander, 123 So. 3d 67 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013)
    …tatements have been admitted in other JS'nyZe-progeny cases, and appellate courts have rejected arguments similar to those made by Lorillard as to the admissibility of the statements at issue in this case. See, e.g., Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Mrozek, 106 So. 3d 479, 480 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012) (finding that the trial court did not err in admitting “purported hearsay evidence” showing the plaintiffs state of mind and attitude about smoking decades before her death). We agree with the trial court and conclude that t…
  • Philip Morris USA, Inc. v. Tullo, 121 So. 3d 595 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013)
    …n part on other grounds, 110 So. 3d 419 (Fla.2013) (rejecting tobacco company defendants’ argument that the trial court erred in giving a concurring cause instruction in relation to the question of class membership); Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Mrozek, 106 So. 3d 479, 480 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012) (rejecting without comment the tobacco companies’ argument that the court erred in providing the jury with a concurrent cause instruction). We hold the same, and affirm on this issue. b) Closing Comments Next, we write to…
  • R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Ciccone, 123 So. 3d 604 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013)
    …the plaintiff was a Florida resident, (2) that he or she either suffered or was suffering from a smoking related illness before November 21, 1996, and (3) that his or her addiction to nicotine caused the disease. See Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Mrozek, 106 So. 3d 479, 481 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012) (“The [Engle ] class definition requires only that the smoker is/was addicted to cigarettes containing nicotine, and contracted or died from a disease caused by cigarette smoking.”); Bishop ex rel. Estate of Ramsay v. R.J. R…

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