Soffer v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

106 So. 3d 456, 2012 WL 5233477, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 18385
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedOctober 24, 2012
DocketNo. 1D11-3724
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 106 So. 3d 456 (Soffer v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Soffer v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 106 So. 3d 456, 2012 WL 5233477, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 18385 (Fla. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinions

MAKAR, J.

Lucille Soffer, the personal representative of the estate of her deceased husband, Maurice Soffer, appeals the final judgment in this Engle-progeny wrongful death action. Mrs. Soffer contests the trial court’s disallowing a claim for punitive damages on negligence and strict liability theories. R.J. Reynolds cross-appeals, seeking a new trial based on evidentiary errors as well as reversal of the trial court’s orders regarding its statute of limitations defense and the preclusive effect of the Engle class-wide jury findings. We affirm the cross-appeal, but address the question of whether Mrs. Soffer, as a member of the plaintiff class in Engle, is entitled to seek punitive damages as additional relief for her negligence and strict liability counts. We hold that she may not, but certify a question of great public importance.

I

Mrs. Soffer is termed a “progeny plaintiff,” meaning a member of the class approved in Engle v. Liggett Group, Inc., 945 So.2d 1246 (Fla.2006) (also called the En-gle Class). Those progeny plaintiffs who choose to bring actions pursuant to Engle do so, in large measure, because of the significant benefits that membership in the Engle Class confers upon them. First, progeny plaintiffs are entitled to the res judicata effect of certain factual findings made in Engle, thereby relieving them of the substantial burden, time, cost, and risk of proving the tortious-conduct elements of [458]*458their actions against the defendants. Second, progeny plaintiffs are entitled to a lengthy tolling of Florida’s statute of limitations, which ordinarily is two years. For example, the complaint in this case was filed on December 18, 2007, which is more than 15 years after Mr. Softer died; absent the equitable tolling that Engle provides for progeny plaintiffs, Mrs. Soffer’s action against the defendants would be time-barred by more than a decade.

The Engle Class based its theories of recovery on counts alleging negligence and strict liability as well as two intentional tort theories: fraud by concealment and conspiracy to commit fraud. The trial was tri-furcated: Phase I, during which the jury heard evidence in a year-long proceeding to resolve “issues of liability and entitlement to punitive damages for the class as a whole”; Phase II-A, which involved a determination of compensatory damages for the named plaintiffs; and, Phase II-B, which involved the determination of the amount of punitive damages for the class as a whole. Id. at 1256-57. Individualized determinations on issues of liability and compensatory damages were to take place in separate trials to separate juries for each of the class members, with punitive damages to be divided by the trial court amongst successful individual plaintiffs. Mat 1258.

In Phase I, the jury in Engle made a range of specific factual determinations supporting the four theories of recovery mentioned above. Because the trial court in Engle denied as untimely the plaintiffs’ motion to amend their complaint to seek punitive damages under negligence and strict liability theories, the jury did not address punitive damages as to these counts; instead, punitive damages for the Engle Class were limited to only the two intentional tort counts, which had been timely asserted. On these latter two counts, the jury determined that the class was entitled to punitive damages, which were set at $145 billion. Id. at 1256-57.

On appeal, the Third District reversed, decertifying the class and quashing the jury award. The supreme court, however, reversed in part and affirmed in part, holding that most of the Phase I factual findings were entitled to res judicata effect with respect to members of the Engle Class (with certain limitations). It also, in effect, equitably tolled the statute of limitations for all members of the Engle Class who brought actions “filed within one year of the mandate in this case.” Id. at 1277.

The supreme court made two holdings as to punitive damages. First, it was error for the jury to consider entitlement to punitive damages during Phase I of the trial; doing so violated principles of due process because the jury’s determination of the lump sum award of $145 billion in Phase I occurred before the jury made any determination about the ultimate liability of individual defendants in Phase II. This was legal error because there was “no way to evaluate the reasonableness of the punitive damages award without the amount of compensatory damages having been fixed.” Id. at 1262. It was also error because the jury’s punitive damages award preceded any finding that the “plaintiffs had established causation and reliance.” Id. Second, the court held that the amount of the punitive damages was excessive; thus, even if the finding of entitlement to punitive damages in Phase I had been permissible, the classwide punitive damages award was “clearly excessive” and would “result in an unlawful crippling of the defendant companies.” Id. at 1265 and n. 8. The court in Engle did not pass upon whether progeny plaintiffs were entitled to assert claims for punitive damages under the negligence and strict liability theories [459]*459previously and specifically disallowed to members of the Engle Class as untimely.

II

Maurice Soffer died in May of 1992 of lung cancer caused by smoking. Mrs. Soffer brought this wrongful death action against R.J. Reynolds seeking to take advantage of the Engle Class findings. She asserted causes of action identical to those asserted in Engle: negligence, strict liability, and the two intentional tort theories. As in Engle, the trial court allowed the jury to consider punitive damages on the two intentional tort counts, but disallowed them as to the negligence and strict liability counts. The trial court found the punitive damages claims, as to the negligence and strict liability causes of action, were barred by the statute of limitations; because the lead plaintiffs in Engle had not timely asserted such claims, therefore, the trial court reasoned, they are unavailable to progeny plaintiffs. The jury found for Mrs. Soffer on the strict liability and negligence counts, awarding $2,000,000 in compensatory damages; the jury rejected recovery on the intentional tort counts, thereby making it unnecessary to consider an award of punitive damages on those counts.1

In this appeal, Mrs. Soffer asserts that Engle does not preclude progeny plaintiffs from seeking awards of punitive damages on negligence and strict liability theories, which — as a general matter under ordinary circumstances — may be sought under Florida law. The causes of action in this case, Mrs. Soffer argues, are identical to those asserted in Engle; only the requested additional remedy — punitive damages for the non-intentional tort counts — is different. She claims she is not bound to the remedies timely sought in Engle and that principles of equitable tolling do not apply to bar her assertion of punitive damages for the negligence and strict liability theories upon which she prevailed (the jury in her case having rejected the intentional tort theories for which the Engle Class sought and initially was awarded punitive damages).

R.J. Reynolds argues, on the other hand, that progeny plaintiffs — as members of the Engle

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Bluebook (online)
106 So. 3d 456, 2012 WL 5233477, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 18385, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/soffer-v-rj-reynolds-tobacco-co-fladistctapp-2012.