Philip Morris has been ordered to pay $300 million in damages to a former smoker in Florida, the largest award to date among thousands of lawsuits filed in the state against tobacco companies. ...more

November 19, 2009

Nicotine fiends who make it a habit to roll their own butts and save a few bucks will see their savings go up in smoke Wednesday when a new federal excise tax on tobacco kicks in. ...more

March 26, 2009

for the second time. And this time, they don't plan on falling off the nicotine wagon. ...more

March 8, 2009

Philip Morris should be ordered to pay more than $130 million to the widow of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer in a case that could blaze a legal trail for about 8,000 similar Florida lawsuits, the family's attorney told a jury Tuesday. ...more

February 17, 2009

A jury decided today that a longtime chain-smoker's death from lung cancer was caused by nicotine addiction, a potentially costly loss for tobacco giant Philip Morris and an important test case for thousands of similar Florida lawsuits. ...more

February 12, 2009

Shannon Pierson died of a drug overdose on March 3, 2007. The night before, the 19-year-old had snorted a crushed oxycodone pill given to her by Max Lutz, prosecutors said. ...more

February 5, 2009

Shannon Pierson died of a drug overdose on March 3, 2007. The night before, the 19-year-old had snorted a crushed oxycodone pill given to her by Max Lutz, prosecutors said. On Tuesday, a Pasco County jury deliberated for more than two hours before finding Lutz not guilty of delivery of a controlled substance. ...more

February 4, 2009

"It's easy to quit smoking. I've done it a hundred times." ...more

January 11, 2009

The year 1991 will always be impressed upon my memory. ...more

January 11, 2009

It wasn't just a New Year's resolution. Dave Melden seriously wanted to quit smoking. ...more

January 1, 2009