11.   Earlier trials only heard about the individual smoker seeking damages against the tobacco companies.

12.   For decades, for example, individual smokers have had difficulty winning damage suits against tobacco companies despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that tobacco is linked to disease.

13.   He is among a group of attorneys representing individual smokers seeking distribution of fees as part of tobacco-settlement legislation.

14.   He said that LeBow has not escaped the threat of litigation, either from suits brought by individual smokers, or from other class-actions.

15.   If the rulings on compensatory and punitive damages stand, the total award would be the largest to date in a tobacco liability lawsuit filed by an individual smoker.

16.   Just a few years ago the idea that an individual smoker could legally triumph against a tobacco producer was unthinkable.

17.   Last week, during full-scale talks in Dallas, the two sides agreed to cap the annual amount the industry would have to pay to individual smokers.

18.   Only Monday, a lawsuit by individual smokers was certified as a class action by a federal judge in Philadelphia.

19.   Still, victories by individual smokers remain rare.

20.   The California verdict was only the fourth time in more than a decade that a jury has awarded damages in tobacco case brought by an individual smoker.