Claims Pour in for Piece of $580 MIllion Smoking Fund
When the massive $145 billion verdict returned by a Miami jury in 2000 was overturned by an appellate court, around $580 million was set aside by the tobacco companies as a trust fund for the members of the class-action suit that was thrown out. Now, after some controversial decisions about whom to award money to earlier this year, smokers have been officially filing claims for their smoking-related illnesses, and the number of claims received by the fund trustees totaled 40,000, around t...