Award Upheld in Tobacco Suit
A Florida appeals court Wednesday upheld a landmark $349-million settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought by flight attendants who contended they fell ill because of secondhand smoke in airplane cabins.
The 3rd District Court of Appeal knocked down objections by outside lawyers representing dissenting flight attendants who were not satisfied with the 1997 settlement.
The case, known as Broin vs. Philip Morris, was the first class-action suit against U.S. tobacco companies brought to trial. It was named after Norma Broin, a nonsmoking flight attendant with lung cancer that she blamed on passengers’ cigarette smoke.
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