R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Kaplan
Decision Date | 23 June 2021 |
Docket Number | No. 4D18-2880,4D18-2880 |
Parties | R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO COMPANY and Philip Morris USA Inc., Appellants, v. Myron KAPLAN, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Sheila Kaplan, Appellee. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Scott A. Chesin and Michael Rayfield of Mayer Brown LLP, New York, N.Y., and Geoffrey J. Michael of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, Washington, D.C., for appellant Philip Morris USA Inc.
William L. Durham II and Val Leppert of King & Spalding LLP, Atlanta, GA, for appellant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
Bard D. Rockenbach of Burlington & Rockenbach, P.A., West Palm Beach, and Scott P. Schlesinger, Jonathan R. Gdanski and Brittany Chambers of Schlesinger Law Offices, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, and Philip J. Padovano and Celene H. Humphries of Brannock Humphries & Berman, Tampa, for appellee.
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING EN BANC AND REVISED WRITTEN OPINION
We deny the appellants’ motion for rehearing en banc, but grant appellants’ motion for a revised written opinion, withdraw our opinion dated December 9, 2020, and issue the following in its place:
Appellants R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Philip Morris USA, Inc. (collectively, "Tobacco") appeal a judgment in favor of Myron Kaplan ("Plaintiff"), as personal representative of the estate of Sheila Kaplan ("Decedent"). Tobacco raises five issues on appeal. We affirm as to all five issues without discussion, except for the issue concerning two egregiously improper closing arguments by Plaintiff's counsel.1 We choose to discuss that issue because the problem is recurring, and the trial court improperly overruled objections to the arguments. We write to stress once again to trial judges the importance of curbing improper closing arguments designed to appeal to the emotions and passions of jurors. Inflammatory improper arguments must be stopped to maintain public confidence in our system of justice.
Decedent began smoking cigarettes at age 14 or 15, including brands manufactured by Tobacco. Plaintiff and Decedent married in 1964. When Plaintiff first met Decedent, she was a "heavy smoker." Decedent was eventually diagnosed with a lung tumor in 1994, leading to surgery to remove one of her lungs. After the surgery, Decedent quit smoking. Although the doctors thought she was in remission, her cancer
returned, and she eventually died.
Plaintiff filed a six-count complaint against Tobacco making the usual Engle2 progeny case claims. As typical with Engle cases, the trial was conducted in two phases. Much of the evidence in Phase I revolved around the issue of whether Decedent died of a form of lung cancer
established by the Engle findings to be caused by smoking.
During the initial closing argument in Phase I, immediately after making reference to the Engle findings, Plaintiff's counsel made the following argument, to which Tobacco objected:
Tobacco again objected and asked for a sidebar. At sidebar, the following exchange occurred:
Plaintiff's counsel interjected that in Engle , the Third District reversed in part because Engle's counsel made a direct comparison of the tobacco companies to the Nazis; however, our supreme court reinstated the verdict after deciding the comparison was over the line, but not grounds for reversing a long trial. The trial court responded:
The trial court overruled the objection to the Schindler's List argument and asked if Tobacco was moving for mistrial. Tobacco moved for mistrial at sidebar and the trial court reserved ruling. After the Plaintiff's initial closing argument, Tobacco again moved for a mistrial based on the Schindler's List argument, as well as multiple sustained objections during the initial closing. The trial court again reserved ruling.
Later, Plaintiff's counsel ended his rebuttal closing argument in Phase I as follows:
After Phase I of the trial, the jury returned a verdict for compensatory damages for past pain and suffering in the amount of $1.58 million, $520,000 for future damages, and $7,211 for funeral expenses. The jury also found by clear and convincing evidence that punitive damages were warranted against both tobacco companies, and, at the end of Phase II, the jury awarded Plaintiff punitive damages totaling $2,971,000.
After the verdict was entered, Tobacco moved for a new trial, raising multiple grounds. One such ground was multiple improper closing arguments, including the Schindler's List and the 1984 arguments. After denying the motion for new trial, the trial court entered a final judgment in conformity with the jury's verdicts. Tobacco gave joint notice of appeal.
Although Tobacco's motion for new trial argued several instances of improper closing argument, Tobacco's appeal focuses on the Schindler's List and 1984 analogies and gives little attention to the other asserted improper arguments. The initial brief devoted a total of three pages of analysis regarding the issue of improper closing arguments, discussing the issue with conclusory statements. Hence, we similarly confine our analysis to the Schindler's List and 1984 arguments.
"A trial court's denial of a motion for mistrial and a motion for new trial based on improper closing arguments are reviewed for abuse of discretion." R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Calloway , 201 So. 3d 753, 759 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016) (quoting Whitney v. Milien , 125 So. 3d 817, 818 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013) ).
Regarding closing arguments, our supreme court and we have stressed:
The purpose of closing argument is to help the jury understand the issues in a case by "applying the evidence to the law applicable to the case." Hill v. State , 515 So. 2d 176, 178 (Fla. 1987). Attorneys should be afforded great latitude in presenting closing argument, but they must "confine their argument to the facts and evidence presented to the jury and all logical deductions from the facts and evidence." Knoizen v. Bruegger , 713 So. 2d 1071, 1072 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) ; see also Venning v. Roe , 616 So. 2d 604 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993). Moreover, closing argument must not be used to "inflame the minds and passions of the jurors so that their verdict reflects an emotional response ... rather than the logical...
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