Big Tobacco: Back in Legal Limbo

The last few months have seen a string of favorable legal developments for the tobacco industry. In July, the Florida Supreme Court threw out the long-running Engle class-action case, eliminating the threat of a $145 billion damage award handed down in the case years earlier. And in August, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler sent tobacco stocks through the roof in a case brought by the Justice Dept. Kessler declined to levy any financial penalties on the industry, despite finding it guilty of racketeering. After years in which an unprecedented wave of litigation had threatened to bankrupt the industry, the tide seemed to have turned decisively in Big Tobacco's favor.