Hell bound

Personal injury lawsuits against tobacco companies, 1990s relics in most states, are alive and well in Florida.

At least a pair of Jacksonville attorneys believes so. They sued multiple big tobacco companies in 2008 on behalf of some 3,700 allegedly wronged smokers.

One colossal problem: A panel of federal judges found the attorneys, Norwood Wilner and Charlie Farah, failed to obtain authorizations from a large swath of their so-called clients. The attorneys, claimed the judges, showed a “reckless disregard for their profession's ethical duties” because they essentially had no idea what the medical status was of hundreds of people they claimed to represent.