IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: Tobacco under attack MESSAGE BOARDS: Big tobacco lawsuits VIDEO CNN's John Zarrella explains the penalty phase of the trial Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

July 15, 1999
Web posted at: 2:23 p.m. EDT (1823 GMT)

In this story: Plaintiffs to tell their stories Appeal likely RELATED STORIES, SITES

MIAMI (CNN) -- With one victory behind them, nine ailing Floridians seeking billions of dollars in damages from the tobacco industry will wait until September 7 before their landmark civil trial proceeds to the penalty phase, where the jury is to decide damages in the case.

The date was set Thursday by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Robert Kaye.

Last week -- after a yearlong trial -- the jury issued a stinging condemnation of cigarette makers, saying that smoking is addictive and causes lung cancer, heart disease and a wide range of other maladies.

None of the nine named plaintiffs in the class-action suit -- all victims of a variety of cancers and other diseases -- took the stand during the first phase of the trial.

When the trial resumes, two of them will tell their stories to the jury. The two -- Angie Della Vecchio and Mary Farnan -- both suffer from lung cancer.

Amodeo, speaking one year ago -- before a judge issued a gag order covering all parties in the lawsuit -- says most of his idols were smokers (114K/10 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

The jury will first decide if the two smokers are entitled to compensatory damages from the tobacco industry. If the jury decides to award compensatory damages, they will also rule on what punitive damages the industry should pay.

The plaintiffs are seeking some $200 billion from the industry. Follow-up lawsuits from other sick Florida smokers and their heirs could boost the damage figure even higher.

Farnan, 43, began smoking at age 11. Diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago, the registered nurse still could not break the habit.

She tried to quit using hypnosis, nicotine gum and patches, but smoked through her first course of radiation and chemotherapy. And the cancer spread.

"Mary Farnan has lung cancer; her lung cancer has metastasized to her brain," plaintiffs' attorney Susan Rosenblatt said in court last week. "She's had brain surgery. She unfortunately has a limited life expectancy."

The other plaintiffs are:

• Frank Amodeo. The 60-year-old Orlando man hasn't eaten by mouth since the 1980s. Throat cancer robbed him of the ability to swallow; he now takes nourishment directly into his stomach.
  
  
• Howard Engle. The Miami Beach pediatrician suffers from emphysema and has trouble breathing. The lawsuit says he started smoking while in medical school to mask the smell of cadavers.
  
  
• Raymond Lacey. He has Buerger's disease, a circulatory disorder which almost exclusively strikes young men who smoke. Both of his legs have been amputated.
  
  
• Robert Angell. The Miami-Dade County man couldn't stop smoking despite repeated attempts, even after being diagnosed with throat cancer.
  
  
• Loren Lowery. The Hillsborough County man, who started smoking at age 15, lost most of his lower jaw and part of his tongue to cancer.
  
  
• Michael Matyi of Pinellas County. He began smoking at age 11, developed a tumor and had a vocal cord removed.
  
  
• Frosene Steevens of Miami-Dade County. She developed congestive heart failure, resulting in a quadruple bypass 10 years ago. Afterward, she still couldn't stop smoking, according to the lawsuit.
  
  

In their July 7 verdict, jurors said five tobacco companies and two now-defunct industry groups were responsible for deaths and injuries suffered by Floridians addicted to the nicotine in cigarettes.

It was the first verdict in a class-action lawsuit against the tobacco companies, whose marketing practices were condemned by the six-member jury.

The same panel -- four men and two women -- will return in September.

Whatever happens, the tobacco industry is expected to appeal, a move that would keep the plaintiffs from seeing any money while the case is tied up in the courts, perhaps for years.

Miami Bureau Chief John Zarrella and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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