Big Tobacco

A collection of businesses selling a legal drug in the UnitedStates. Now found liable for trillions of dollars in damages for allegedly causing the death of hundreds of millions of people who voluntarily consumed their products (for some definitions of voluntary), even after they were found to cause death in many cases.

And the children of parents who smoke are volunteers too: They are fully aware of the dangers, and can easily switch parents to avoid the health risks.

Haven't there been cases of such children suing their parents already ?

Curious. What is the foundation of these suites? In the UK it says right on the pack "Smoking Kills", in quite large letters. This doesn't seem to stop people, and maybe it shouldn't. As an aside, analysts at The Economist have shown that heavy smokers are net contributors to the UK's National Health Service, since they pay a lot of tax, then die young. And the period between the onset of their fatal illness and their death tends to be quite short. "Healthy" people, conversely, don't pay the duty on tobacco, but do place a huge load on the NHS throughout their long, lingering, high-maintenance deaths from old age. I wonder if such suits will be brought in the UK, by whom and what for. --KeithBraithwaite

Actually, there was a class action suit in the States a few years ago filed by flight attendants. This was unique because flight attendants are one of the few professions where second hand smoking was a job requirement--you can't exactly crack the window open. The point is mostly moot today, as US domestic flights are generally non-smoking only by FAA regs.