Deborah Caulfield Rybak epub Smoked: The Inside Story of the Minnesota Tobacco Trial

"...a remarkable job of storytelling." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune"...a compelling courtroom drama that resonates on a human scale." --Kirkus Reviews A hostile judge, secret documents, jurors held hostage, a Tiffany collection of legal talent. Anyone who thinks Minnesota’s 1998 tobacco trial was just another piece of civil litigation will be surprised by Smoked: The Inside Story of the Minnesota Tobacco Trial. Using compelling “people” stories, journalists Deborah Caulfield Rybak and David Phelps recount the surprising behind-the-scenes drama at one of the most important tobacco trials in U.S. history. The State of Minnesota and co-plaintiff Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota forge ahead with the case despite overwhelming criticism within their respective fields. Their lawyer, the brilliant and flamboyant Mike Ciresi, methodically deconstructs Big Tobacco, once thought to be legally invincible. The industry’s lawyers emerge as surprising sympathetic as they confront the mystifying inhospitality of Judge Kenneth Fitzpatrick. Smoked also details the surprising hardships suffered by the jury during the trial’s four months. In this page-turning narrative, readers will follow the case’s twists and turns from the start of the legal journey through the newly added final chapter, which offers a 20-year retrospect of the trial's landmark legacy.