Ten years and a day after a jury awarded Mayola Williams nearly $80 million in punitive damages in her fight with a cigarette maker, the Supreme Court said today she can collect her share. ...more

March 31, 2009

Cigarettes have been a relatively inexpensive addiction for smokers in Florida, even as a pack has neared $4 for most brands. ...more

March 27, 2009

Cigarettes have been a relatively inexpensive addiction for smokers in Florida, even as a pack has neared $4 for most brands. ...more

March 18, 2009

Philip Morris was ordered by a jury to pay $8 million in damages to the widow of a smoker who died of lung cancer in a case that could set a standard for some 8,000 similar Florida lawsuits. ...more

February 18, 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

Altria, the U.S. leader in cigarettes, wants to be No. 1 in smokeless products, too. ...more

September 9, 2008

Tobacco companies deliberately changed the menthol levels in cigarettes depending upon whom they were marketing them to - lower levels for young smokers who preferred the milder brands and higher levels to "lock in lifelong adult smokers," researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health concluded. ...more

July 17, 2008

Government workers singled out for arbitrary, irrational or vindictive treatment by supervisors will find no relief in the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, unless the mistreatment is because of discrimination on the basis of race, sex or another protected category. ...more

June 10, 2008

John Eastman, a former Tampa radio and TV personality who successfully sued two tobacco companies for contributing to his nicotine addiction, died Sunday at age 79. ...more

May 6, 2008

When Altria's international cigarette unit gets its independence in March, it will move quickly to grab sales outside the United States with products such as Marlboro Fresh Mint, Virginia Slims Noire and Parliament Platinum. ...more

January 31, 2008