I'm looking for the current status of the Engle case.  The class
action suit in Floridia:  Engle v. Liggett Group, Inc.  It was
recently decertified (in 2003) and I wondered what has happened with
it since then.  Links to fairly current News articles would be nice.

Hello tallkth,


Case Detail:  

Engle v. Liggett Group, Inc. 
 
Case Date: 7/23/2004

Project Name: Class Action Reform 

?On July 23, 2004, WLF filed a brief in the Florida Supreme Court,
urging the court not to reinstate the trial judge's certification of a
state-wide plaintiff class in a product liability personal-injury suit
filed against all the major cigarette companies. After the trial court
entered a $145 billion judgment against the defendants, the Florida
appeals court reversed, finding inter alia that the case never should
have been certified as a class action. The plaintiffs have appealed to
the Florida Supreme Court. WLF's brief (filed on behalf of itself and
the National Association of Manufacturers) argues that class
certification is inappropriate where, as here, individualized issues
predominate over issues common to the class. WLF also urged the court
to reject the plaintiffs' argument for a "public policy" exception --
whereby suits that otherwise fail to meet the requirements for class
certification may nonetheless be certified on the basis of asserted
public policy concerns. ?
 
Case Status:  Awaiting oral argument.  

Washington Legal Foundation 
http://www.wlf.org/Litigating/casedetail.asp?detail=301


Download a PDF of the Brief, 7/26/2004 
http://www.wlf.org/upload/ENGLE.pdf

WLF And NAM Urge Florida High Court To Reject $145 Billion Class Action 
Engle v. Liggett Group, Inc.
July 26, 2004
Download a PDF of this Press Release
http://www.wlf.org/upload/072304dp.pdf


The Supreme Court of Florida provides a wealth of information regarding this case.

Briefs & Other Documents in Case No. 03-1856
New Documents will be added as they are filed and processed.  
Updated 10/25/2004
Here is athe direct link to these documents.
http://www.firn.edu/supct/pubinfo/summaries/briefs/03/03-1856/index.html

Source: Supreme Court Press Information
http://www.firn.edu/supct/pubinfo/whatsnew.html



Liggett Group v. Engle: A Case Study Of Class Action Abuse
By Michael I. Krauss,a professor of law at George Mason University.
Legal Backgrounder, October 31, 2003, 4 pages
Download a PDF of the Publication 
http://www.wlf.org/upload/10-31-03krauss.pdf

 

Search criteria:
Engle v. Liggett Group


I hope this is helpful. 

Best regards,
Bobbie7

Thanks so much - just the kind of thing I was looking for.