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Editor: C. Calvin Warriner
Profession: Cigarette & Tobacco Attorney

A Missouri Appeals court found that the tobacco giant, Brtown & Williamson, was guilty of intentional tort conduct.

Although the justices set aside a $20 million punitive damages verdict, they found that Big Tobacco, once again, withheld harmful information and "established procedures to ensure negative information did not reach the public". In fact the court set forth that the facts in the case rose to a level of clear and convincing evidence of Big Tobacco's wrongdoing.

The Daily Herald reported that:

The decision was noteworthy in two respects. First, the court found evidence of deliberate wrongdoing by a tobacco company. And second, the court ruled for the first time that the surviving families of tort victims can sue even if the victims had previously brought suit themselves.