For decades, the Tobacco Products Liability Project has encouraged the use of litigation against the tobacco industry. We believe litigation functions as a tool for public health by holding manufacturers responsible for their wrongful actions. In this capacity, we have strived to strengthen the dialogue between the scientific and legal communities.

The judiciary requires the scientific community’s input to accurately and fairly assign responsibility in tobacco litigation. This need is fulfilled, in part, by individual scientists agreeing to testify as expert witnesses. Judges and juries rely on expert witnesses to untangle complex scientific questions. Tobacco documents and scientific literature alone are not enough.

Today we are publishing actual expert witness testimony from a variety of tobacco-related cases. The annotated testimony covers lung cancer, addiction, punitive damage calculations, the history of common knowledge of smoking and health research, business ethics and equitable relief. The annotated testimony is not meant to serve as a comprehensive discussion on these topics. Rather, it is intended to introduce the reader to the challenges of expert testimony in these cases and to highlight the common themes and legal questions raised in tobacco litigation.