Fla. Ct.: Asbestos Exposure Testimony Should Have Been Allowed in Tobacco Case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida appeals court has ordered a new trial in a tobacco case after determining that the presiding judge erred in refusing to allow the defendant to introduce evidence that the plaintiff’s laryngeal cancer may have been caused not by smoking, but as a result of years of occupational asbestos exposure. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Mack, No. 1D11-2448 (Fla. Ct. App., 1st Dist.).

In a June 13 decision, the First District Florida Court of Appeal threw out the $1 million verdict awarded to Peter Mack Sr.’s estate after determining that experts testifying on Mack’s behalf should …