by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Both federal and state courts are proceeding carefully as they seek the best way to resolve thousands of tobacco cases.
The Jacksonville Division of the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida has about 4,000 tobacco cases pending as a result of the Florida Supreme Court decision that broke up the Engle class action lawsuit and allowed plaintiffs to file on their own.
The Fourth Judicial Circuit of the State of Florida has about 140 tobacco cases currently and may have another 500 transitioning from the federal court depending on the federal court’s decision whether or not to allow the cases to be dismissed and tried at the state level.
A case management hearing has been set before U.S. District Judges Timothy Corrigan and Marcia Morales Howard on Dec. 7.
“We’ll just have to wait and see what happens on Dec. 7,” said Senior Circuit Judge Charles Mitchell, who has been called on to hear tobacco and foreclosure cases.
“The court will be trying to determine an unprecedented block of cases,” said Jacksonville attorney Norwood Wilner, who is representing about 3,800 plaintiffs throughout Florida.
“We are trying to get people the opportunity to get their cases heard in their lifetime. There are a lot of details to be determined. The court will need to consider adopting procedures for hearing hundreds of cases. There is nothing in the rule book that says it has to be one plaintiff at a time,” said Wilner.
Circuit Judge Charles Arnold has been assigned by Chief Judge Donald Moran to oversee tobacco cases in the Fourth Judicial Circuit as of Jan. 1.
“The Court’s aspirational goal is to have two cases a month,” said Caroline Emery, court counsel for the Fourth Judicial Circuit. “The court holds case management conferences every third Thursday to discuss the status of the tobacco cases and the best way to proceed.”
The next tobacco case in the Fourth Judicial Circuit is scheduled to begin Nov. 24 in Clay County with Senior Judge Aaron Bowden presiding.
The Fourth Circuit has the ability to assign senior judges to assist with its caseload, but the Jacksonville Division of the Middle District has been operating without a U.S. District Judge since Judge Henry Adams took senior status in April.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez chose to send the names of Roy B. Dalton Jr., Circuit Judge Brian Davis and U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Jenkins from a list from the Florida Federal Judicial Nominating Commission to President Barack Obama in August 2009 for consideration. A decision has not been made on Adams’ replacement.
“We haven’t gotten any update on when a decision might be made at this point,” said Bryan Gullen, a spokesperson from Nelson’s office.
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