It took a while … a very long while … but finally a « Florida appeals court has upheld an award to a flight attendant who blamed secondhand smoke on airliners for bronchitis and sinus disease »:
‘A state appeals court upheld a $500,000 award to a flight attendant who blamed secondhand smoke on airliners for her bronchitis and sinus trouble—a decision Wednesday that could clear the way for damage trials on up to 3,000 similar claims. The ruling for former TWA attendant Lynn French was a test case interpreting a $349 million settlement reached in 1997 between the tobacco industry and nonsmoking attendants. The flight attendants blamed their illnesses on smoke in the cabin before smoking was banned on domestic flights in 1990. … After the tobacco industry agreed to settle, a system of mini-trials was set up for each flight attendant to decide whether he or she deserved compensatory damages. Under the ground rules, each jury was to presume that secondhand smoke causes several diseases; the attendants had to prove only that they suffered from one of those diseases and that their exposure to smoke occurred on the job.’
Justice moves slow. VERY slow. But good for Lynn French.
