Billed as the "Mother of All Lawsuits," the legal action taken
against the
tobacco industry in 1994 had all the
trappings of an epic battle, and
Cornered: Big Tobacco at the Bar of Justice often reads like
reporting from the front lines--which, in many ways, it is. On one side, deeply entrenched, rested the
mammoth legal forces representing the tobacco industry, hardened by nearly continual attacks since the early 1950s and supported by enormous war chests that usually allowed them to hang on until their opponent ran out of financial and legal resources. On the other side, mounting their attack, sat 65 of the most famous and feared trial and personal-injury lawyers in the country--complete with monikers such as "The King of Torts," "The Master of Disaster," and "The Asbestos Avenger"--who were willing to pool their resources, talent, and expertise (and attempt to table their competitiveness and often their hatred for one another) in order to reap the massive payoff that the $50 billion dollar industry could supply. The opportunity for such a confrontation came after Merrell Williams, a Louisville paralegal, stole roughly 4,000 pages of confidential tobacco-company documents and handed them over to the Mississippi attorney general, Michael Moore. Moore, later joined by 39 other states' attorneys general operating on a different front, sought to go after the tobacco industry to receive payment for Medicaid bills to treat those with smoking-related diseases. These documents exposed the Achilles' heel of Big Tobacco, opening the door to the eventual $368 billion settlement. Despite the staggering numbers, the deal has been labeled a sellout by many health groups and lawmakers alike. Investigative journalist Peter Pringle meticulously details the entire complicated trial in
Cornered, and his countless interviews with the major players allow him to paint vivid portraits of the lawyers and lawmakers, many of them brandishing egos as large as the settlement itself..
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