MO_Sugar Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Question for the group................... Have any of the current or past members ever sued the tobacco companies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Not to mention any names or such, I know that the tobacco companies have been sued by some of the members, however, it is very difficult to get a law firm to take the case as they will have to put up thousands of dollars to front the litigation and casework and really not one case has paid out any monies and are all on appeal. The cases were won, however the tobacco giants always appeal the judgements. They have a lot of power, thats why cigs are still for sale. Banned Ephidrine due to 14 deaths, banned silicone breast implants for a minimal number of deaths and cigs are still sold at every store and they kill 400,000 people per year. Off my soap box now.... I do however have a firm that could help out and validate the case. Most smoking related cancer suits would have to come from someone that had smoked in the earlier days prior to all the warnings and such. Thanks Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bart ziggie ( Greg ) Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Mo Sugar, I cant personaly comment however, I will tell you that yes there are several of us that have filed large personal injury suits against some of the big hitters so to speak. I wish i could comment more on my particular case but without talking to lawyers i dont know what i can divulge. What i will do is make a call tomm. and find out exactly what i can talk about on here. Just in hopes that it may help someone else. I will go as far as to say i am the litigant in a very large personal injury suit against a major tobacco co. Not a class action suit but a personal injury case. I will for sure find out tomm. And hopefully, i can pass on some useful info to those who may benefit from the info. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MO_Sugar Posted December 3, 2003 Author Share Posted December 3, 2003 Thanks Rick and Greg. I didn't know if anyone had taken it to that level. God Bless, MO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eileen Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 My opinion differs somewhat ---but I agree with Katie--if you could prove that you got cancer when we were not warned--- but these warnings have been around for years and years. Addiction is hard to stop but not impossible---some heroin addicts even kick their addiction I agree that many years ago, when I first started smoking, there were no warnings and everyone did it---and now I know there were things put in cigarettes to make them addictive--- but now---I have absolutely no excuses, and if I chose to smoke, it is my responsibility---I cannot sue tobacco companies any more than someone could sue a liquor company because they are an alcoholic and their liver went bad---or sue a car company because they made their cars fast and then someone had an accident because they were speeding--Maybe these are poor analogies, but I feel people at some point have to take responsibilty for their own actions- I quit after my operation and started up again---(am trying to quit again)-- this is my fault--not the tobacco companies-- and honestly does anyone really think the government wants us to quit and lose those big tax bucks? Just how much of the money won in these tobacco cases is actually going towards helping people quit smoking? I think it is very little-- I know in New York City cigarettes are taxed to the max (about $8.00 for a pack)---is this money going to help people quit? nope--- it is to help balance the big deficit in the budget for New York City--- Ok now I will also get off the soap box regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 If anyone started smoking when there were no warnings and it was "cool" to smoke... most people were hooked on them and the govt or tobacco companies offered no support or help with the addictions when it was found that the cigs kill. Did you know there is actual proof that the govt and tobacco companies had proof that cigs caused cancer in the early 40's but it was not advised. The tobacco companies also used products in the tobacco that made it more addictive than if it were paper and tobacco alone. There has been some huge judgements for many people, its just the tobacco companies keep it in appeals. I dont feel that if someone started smoking after the warnings were out and everyone knew that cigs cause cancer. I am 40 years old and smoked for 10 years from 1991 to 2001. I should not be able to sue since it was my own stupidity to choose to smoke a possibly deadly product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowflake Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 ...and then, even if you DID have your receipts, etc., there'd be someone like ME to blow the curve. I cannot blame my cancer on cigarettes - I've never smoked. It would seem that tobacco companies would start picking up on the fact that tobacco use seems to be going down and cancer rates are going UP and use that to their advantage (I read that somewhere, need to start printing out the things I read and be able to "document" the information). I guess people have a need to put the blame SOMEWHERE. My opinion is that if the smoking/lung cancer link were broken, there would be more funding for a CURE... BUT, that's just an opinion. Seems that the world is set on "Lung cancer? You smoked? You asked for it..." Need a cure, not another round of the Blame Game... Rick, it's NOT smoking that causes 400,000 deaths a year, it's lung cancer. Not all off us got here by the same route... Becky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beckyg Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Actually, Becky, the smoking is responsible for a lot of deaths other than lung cancer. Lung cancer only accounts for about 150,000. The rest of the deaths Rick was referencing are from emphysema, heart attacks, other kinds of cancer, ........ I do agree that the research might go quicker if the world got it that there are more people like you and me out here with lung cancer than they think. I don't know what caused mt cancer, and I probably never will, but it wasn't cigarettes. That news ought to scare people, and it does--it's not at all comfortable to realize that the thought that "I never smoked, so I don't have to worry about lung cancer" just isn't true. Becky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowflake Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 ...and then there's the random aspect of those going to the store to buy a pack of cigarettes and being hit by a beer truck... But, STILL... There are other questions out there that need to be answered with the supposed link between smoking and lung cancer - and how can "Big Tobacco" be the ONLY ones being held responsible when some of us with the disease have never used it?? What are some of the other common threads? Naturally occuring radon, friable asbestos, lead from paint and pipes, cosmic rays...too much TV, microwaving plastic.... I don't understand how people would win a lawsuit with the number of us running around who DON'T have a smoker's cough or Marlboro Mile prizes. Seems like it would be an argument for an appeal... Of course, if the form of cancer CAN be tied to the smoking, the smoker started well before the warnings were put on the packs, smoking cessation began when the "word" got out of the bad stuff associated with smoking, etc., THEN I would support the tobacco companies being responsible. I just can't jump on a bandwagon that is not a "definite" for me. (Of course, I also do not feel that Dow Corning should have had to claim bankruptcy to pay all the litigation over breast implants - women don't NEED bigger boobs to survive, it was a CONSCIOUS choice to put a foreign body under the skin, no one forced the women to do it...) Anyhow, life is choices and we are all different people. Do your research on costs, etc. (as Katie pointed out, it seems a little unbalanced) and decide for yourself on what you wanted to do with your life and where your energy should be spent. Best of luck to all on their chosen paths. I'm still wondering where I am heading... Becky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eileen Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Hi Becky I think I mentioned it before in one of my rambling messages-----but have you ever wondered why people always blame trucks or buses?People say "I could get hit by a "bus" or a "truck" tomorrow---why not a car or an SUV ? actually I do not think many people get hit by buses or trucks---but love your take on it ---not just a plain truck but "a beer truck" regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowflake Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Eileen, At the risk of the groans from an intended pun, in response to bus or truck smushing vs. cars, it could only be attributed to overkill... ...and although most folks would hope for 'light beer' in their beer trucks, make mine a full bodied Guinness! A REAL beer....liquid bread! (and to think, I actually dislike beer....just have my 'druthers in smushing...imagine the conversation - "I heard that they had to roll her up like a crepe to get her in the box - poor thing was hit by a GUINNESS truck!") Ahhhh....laughing at Death....shame on me, I'd better look both ways TWICE before crossing any street NOW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 As a Veteran (X2), it is of pertinence to note that every meal pack given to GIs on bivouac and/or in the field during my time-in-service (through mid-70s) included 3 cigarettes and waterproof matches. This was long after the initial official Surgeon General warnings against smoking. How many GIs became new "customers" by this route? Then, after you're addicted, the military PXs sold cartons of cigs MUCH cheaper than the standard civilian prices off-base...to help subsidize the maintenance of your newly found addiction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Here's a "HOW-TO" link regarding legal actions against tobacco companies. http://ash.org/sue-tobacco-companies.html HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fay A. Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Cigarettes and matches were part of C-Rations as recent as 1977, folks. Have any of you done any research into exactly WHEN the Federal Government finally agreed to allow warnings to be printed on packs of cigarettes (and how hard they fought against it and for how long), or how "watered down" these "warnings" were for the first decade or so? The original Surgeon General's report was published in 1964...I was a 9 year old, so I didn't get to see it....What I did see were kazillions of commericals telling me about how cool Kools were, and Marlboros, and Winstons, and Pall Malls, and Camels, and Lucky Strikes, and Salems, and shall I go on? There is a wall of space at our local military commissary devoted to cigarettes.... and the cigarettes sold in the Base Exchange go to support Morale Welfare and Recreation activities at the Military Base (Golf Course, Bowling Alley, Swimming Pool, etc.) At the same time the military is paying lip service to the idea of a non smoking military force they're teeing up at the golf course and complaining because the greens are not as well kept as they once were. I need to back off this one....at least for a while. I have known hundreds of people who started smoking during their time in the military. It usually started in Basic Training, but they've changed that now... Now they don't allow recruits to smoke during basic, but the sure as heck hook them during AIT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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