Florida Law Firm Fined $9 Million By Federal Court Over Tobacco Litigation
First Coast News reports that federal judges in Florida handed down $9,164,404.12 in fines Wednesday on prominent Jacksonville litigation firm, Farah & Farah, P.A.
Farah & Farah and the Wilner Firm filed 1,250 frivolous tobacco claims against the Engle Trust Fund, the court found.
“Engle is a class action lawsuit named for a Miami pediatrician who defeated tobacco companies in court,” First Coast News explains. “A multi-million dollar fund paid by tobacco companies was set up for Floridians and their survivors who suffered illnesses due to cigarette smoking from 1994-2006. The class action in 2008 was estimated to include 700,000 people.”
Some cases filed by the attorneys were for deceased clients, non-smokers, those who did not suffer from one of the required diseases, and 572 that did not authorize the attorneys to file lawsuits on their behalf, the report says.
Read the First Coast News article.
