The Tobacco Trial
Lawyers' Association is a membership organization of trial
attorneys and tobacco litigation specialists who wish to share
resources and learn from members' litigation experiences with
tobacco industry defendants.
Founded in 1996
as the third wave of tobacco litigation was gaining momentum, TTLA's
charter members all knew that it only made sense to work collaboratively
to increase the opportunities for success when facing a court room
foe flush with both tremendous resources and legal talent.
Litigation
against tobacco manufacturers, despite rhetoric to the contrary, has
not generally been kind to the plaintiffs' bar. While a few
firms were involved in very lucrative settlements as outside counsel
to the states that litigated against the industry in the mid to
late1990s, so far only a handful of plaintiffs' attorneys have seen
tobacco industry defendants pay their fees.
Still,
an estimated
41% of trials against cigarette companies
have resulted in a
verdict for the plaintiff over the past dozen years and, in several cases, the verdicts were
very substantial.
If you are involved in tobacco
litigation or considering adding this area to your practice, you
should seriously consider becoming a member of TTLA. |