United States

After several named tobacco companies agreed to pay a class of non-smoking flight attendants for injuries suffered as a result of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke aboard Trans World Airlines flights, one plaintiff, Lynn French, refused the amount offered to her as settlement from Lorillard Tobacco Co. and sought a jury verdict instead. A jury eventually awarded French $5.5 million, and she subsequently filed a motion to receive compensation for her attorney fees and the costs she incurred after the judgment was made, along with the prejudgment interest on those costs. The Circuit Court of Miami-Dade County awarded French the costs. When the Tobacco company appealed, the District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District, affirmed that French was entitled to the award of attorney's fees and costs, and moreover, that the prejudgment interest was available to her as of the time she received a jury judgment that was substantially higher than the tobacco company's settlement offer.