Florida Fourth DCA rules that plaintiff counsel’s closing argument in Engle-progeny tobacco case likening defendant to Nazis was improper but not give rise to reversible error

By Sands, White & Sands, PA

| January 11, 2021

On December 9, 2020, in R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company v. Kaplan, No. 4D18-2880, the Florida Fourth DCA affirmed a judgment against the defendant in an Engle-progeny tobacco case. While the Fourth DCA agreed with the tobacco company defendant that plaintiff counsel’s closing argument comparing the defendant to the Nazis was an improper argument designed to inflame the passions of the jury, the Court concluded that it did not rise to the level of reversible error.

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