Sommers v. RJ Reynolds

Summary

In this Engle progeny suit, Stefanny Sommers, on behalf of the Estate of Bert Sommers, claims that defendnat tobacco manufacturers concealed the dangers of smoking, while furthering Bert Sommers' addiction to cigarettes, which caused Bert's smoking-related disease.

Outcome

Damages - $1 million

Percentage of fault:

Bert Sommers - 60%
Philip Morris - 40%

Case Information

Attorneys

Witnesses

Plaintiff: Sommers, Steffany
Defense: Philip Morris USA, Inc.
Verdict: $1,000,000

Judge: Monica Gordo
Jurisdiction: 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida
Court: Dade County Courthouse

Case Number: 13-2008-CA-001464-0000-01
Industry: Tobacco
Practice Area: Products Liability

Plaintiff

Sommers, Steffany

Represented By:
Diaz, Richard (Diaz, Richard J, Law Offices of)
Wolk, William (Eaton & Wolk PL)

Defense

Philip Morris USA, Inc.

Represented By:
Reilly, Kenneth (Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP)
Heise, Mark (Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP)

Expert Witnesses

Lay Witnesses

Sessions

Attorney

Witness

Type

Description

AM Session

Openings

5 Chapters

	Description	Attorney
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:03:53	Break
00:25:44	Opening Statement	Diaz, Richard
01:46:46	Opening Statement	Reilly, Kenneth
03:03:09	End of Session

PM Session

Openings

7 Chapters

MAR

AM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

5 Chapters

PM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

7 Chapters

MAR

AM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

6 Chapters

PM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

7 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Proctor, Dr. Robert , Ph.D.	In Person
00:53:15	Witness Cross Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Proctor, Dr. Robert , Ph.D.	In Person
02:00:11	Break
02:18:22	Witness Cross Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Proctor, Dr. Robert , Ph.D.	In Person
03:05:05	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Proctor, Dr. Robert , Ph.D.	In Person
03:24:22	General Case Activities
03:26:13	End of Session

MAR

AM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

12 Chapters

PM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

11 Chapters

MAR

AM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

12 Chapters

PM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

8 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Cummings, Dr. Kenneth "Michael" Ph.D.	In Person
01:04:37	Witness Cross Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Cummings, Dr. Kenneth "Michael" Ph.D.	In Person
01:35:23	Break
01:52:37	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Cummings, Dr. Kenneth "Michael" Ph.D.	In Person
01:57:27	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Sommers, Russell	Transcript Reading
02:44:31	Witness Cross Examination	Wolk, William	Kraas, Ethel "Midge"	Transcript Reading
03:03:37	General Case Activities
03:06:45	End of Session

MAR

AM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

12 Chapters

PM Session

Defense Witness(es)

16 Chapters

APR

AM Session

Defense Witness(es)

5 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	Witness Direct Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Arambula, Dr. Michael M.D.	In Person
01:32:06	Witness Cross Examination	Diaz, Richard	Arambula, Dr. Michael M.D.	In Person
02:57:54	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Arambula, Dr. Michael M.D.	In Person
03:02:55	General Case Activities
03:43:12	End of Session

PM Session

Defense Witness(es)

7 Chapters

APR

AM Session

Closings

7 Chapters

PM Session

Closings

5 Chapters

PM Session

Other

2 Chapters

PM Session

Verdict

4 Chapters

APR

Recording Disclaimer: This proceeding was recorded in full.

Sommers v. RJ Reynolds

Summary

Outcome

Sessions

Suggest a Trial

CVN Essentials

Video Library

	Description	Attorney
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:04:02	Opening Statement	Reilly, Kenneth
00:21:52	Break
00:23:20	General Case Activities
01:16:05	Break
02:52:28	General Case Activities
03:02:04	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:21:38	Break
01:04:32	General Case Activities	Reilly, Kenneth
01:08:54	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Proctor, Dr. Robert , Ph.D.	In Person
03:17:42	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:02:18	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Proctor, Dr. Robert , Ph.D.	In Person
02:26:04	General Case Activities
02:58:36	General Case Activities
02:59:45	Break
03:03:23	General Case Activities
04:07:15	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:01:53	Break
00:22:50	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Proctor, Dr. Robert , Ph.D.	In Person
02:32:53	Break
02:50:09	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Proctor, Dr. Robert , Ph.D.	In Person
03:54:22	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:11:00	Break
00:23:51	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Samole, Dr. Yale M.D.	In Person
01:00:21	Break
01:15:09	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Samole, Dr. Yale M.D.	In Person
02:38:00	Break
02:49:38	General Case Activities
02:50:52	Witness Cross Examination	Heise, Mark	Samole, Dr. Yale M.D.	In Person
02:52:44	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Samole, Dr. Yale M.D.	In Person
02:55:16	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Sommers, Susan	In Person
03:38:18	Witness Cross Examination	Heise, Mark	Sommers, Susan	In Person
03:48:26	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:03:47	Witness Cross Examination	Heise, Mark	Sommers, Susan	In Person
00:13:37	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Sommers, Susan	In Person
00:15:34	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Kaplan, Laurel	Transcript Reading
01:14:23	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Sommers, Steffany	In Person
02:33:43	General Case Activities
02:38:17	Break
02:49:00	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Sommers, Steffany	In Person
03:15:38	Witness Cross Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Sommers, Steffany	In Person
03:54:45	General Case Activities
03:55:51	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:10:44	Break
00:18:07	Witness Cross Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Sommers, Steffany	In Person
01:53:33	General Case Activities
01:55:02	Break
02:07:00	Witness Cross Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Sommers, Steffany	In Person
02:14:14	Break
02:22:37	Witness Cross Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Sommers, Steffany	In Person
02:44:21	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Sommers, Steffany	In Person
03:10:14	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Cummings, Dr. Kenneth "Michael" Ph.D.	In Person
04:11:58	General Case Activities
04:12:41	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:06:55	Break
00:08:25	Witness Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Feldman, Dr. Theodore	In Person
01:33:13	Witness Cross Examination	Heise, Mark	Feldman, Dr. Theodore	In Person
02:21:12	Break
02:40:25	General Case Activities
02:47:12	Witness Cross Examination	Heise, Mark	Feldman, Dr. Theodore	In Person
02:51:14	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Diaz, Richard	Feldman, Dr. Theodore	In Person
03:22:42	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Heise, Mark	Feldman, Dr. Theodore	In Person
03:30:33	General Case Activities
03:31:29	General Case Activities
03:52:39	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:04:55	General Case Activities	Diaz, Richard
00:05:47	Witness Direct Examination	Heise, Mark	Phillips, Dr. Paul M.D.	In Person
00:39:18	Witness Cross Examination	Diaz, Richard	Phillips, Dr. Paul M.D.	In Person
01:09:44	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Heise, Mark	Phillips, Dr. Paul M.D.	In Person
01:14:10	Witness Direct Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Bishopric, Dr. Nanette MD, FACC, FACA	In Person
01:58:43	General Case Activities
01:59:36	Break
02:29:57	Witness Direct Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Bishopric, Dr. Nanette MD, FACC, FACA	In Person
03:12:20	Witness Cross Examination	Diaz, Richard	Bishopric, Dr. Nanette MD, FACC, FACA	In Person
03:36:21	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Bishopric, Dr. Nanette MD, FACC, FACA	In Person
03:44:19	Witness Direct Examination	Reilly, Kenneth	Elias, Dr. Richard M.D.	Video Recording
04:11:32	General Case Activities
04:13:00	Break
04:17:37	General Case Activities
06:11:52	End of Session

	Description	Attorney
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:15:16	General Case Activities
00:32:28	Closing Statement	Diaz, Richard
02:02:56	General Case Activities
02:03:44	Break
02:15:54	Closing Statement	Reilly, Kenneth
03:18:48	End of Session

			Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
		00:00:00	General Case Activities
		00:07:15	Reading of the Verdict
		00:12:50	General Case Activities
		00:15:42	End of Session