RJR Asks Fla. High Court To End Engle ‘Exception’ Under Post-1999 Punitive Statute

Mealey's (December 17, 2020, 4:09 PM EST) -- TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) in a Dec. 2 merits brief urges the Florida Supreme Court to approve an appellate panel’s reversal of a $5 million punitive damages verdict for the widow of a smoker who died in 2007, arguing that the state’s post-1999 punitive damages statute was properly applied to the case based on the date of death and that other appellate panels have wrongly created an “Engle-only exception” by applying the pre-1999 statute to Engle class members who died after 1999 (Mary E. Sheffield v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., No. SC19-601, Fla. Sup.)....