Former ‘Winston’ Pitchman’s Among 8,000 Tobacco Trials in Florida

A former cigarette pitchman’s lawsuit against tobacco companies is among thousands awaiting trial in Florida.

Alan Landers posed with Winston cigarettes on billboards and in magazines in the 1960s and 1970s. Now 68 and living in South Florida, Landers is receiving treatment for a cancerous tumor on his right tonsil. He previously battled lung cancer and emphysema.

Landers’ lawsuit goes to trial in April in Palm Beach County. His case is among some 8,000 individual lawsuits scheduled for trial more than two years after the Florida Supreme Court threw out a record $145 billion class-action verdict.

Last week, a Broward County jury decided that nicotine addiction caused the death of another South Florida man. The jury now has to decide if tobacco giant Philip Morris owes any damages.

___

Information from: South Florida Sun Sentinel, http://www.sun sentinel.com