Complex Litigation

Handling and Trying the Significant Case

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Medical Monitoring

In Re: Tobacco Litigation (Medical Monitoring Cases, also referred to as "Blankenship"), Circuit Court of Ohio County, West Virginia; Civil Action No. 00-C-6000. This was a class action brought on behalf of symptomatic smokers in West Virginia seeking medical monitoring for 250,000 smoking-related diseases.

Plaintiffs claimed that smoking the defendants' cigarettes put them at risk for contracting diseases, and, therefore, their health should be monitored at defendants' expense regardless of any intention on their part to quit smoking. This case was tried before a jury for over two months. The jury returned a defense verdict on November 11, 2001. Thompson Coburn's trial team handled a variety of technical and scientific issues during this high-stakes, ground-breaking trial.

On May 6, 2004, the West Virginia Supreme Court affirmed the defense verdict on behalf of Lorillard and the other major tobacco manufacturers.