Susan Rosenblatt, Who Took On Big Tobacco, Dies at 70

Susan Rosenblatt, who with her hubby and instrumentality partner, Stanley Rosenblatt, took connected Big Tobacco successful a Florida lawsuit that seemed an absurd mismatch for their tiny firm, but that resulted successful a grounds $144.8 cardinal assemblage grant successful favour of radical sickened by cigarettes, died connected Nov. 14 successful Houston. She was 70.

Her death, astatine MD Anderson Cancer Center, was confirmed by her lad David Rosenblatt, who said the origin was acute myeloid leukemia.

Ms. Rosenblatt, who lived successful Miami Beach, was the quieter broadside of the Rosenblatt firm; successful the headline-making baccy lawsuit and different salient lawsuits, Stanley Rosenblatt did overmuch of the in-court presenting and after-court quality conferencing. But it was Ms. Rosenblatt’s ineligible assistance — the probe she did, the briefs she wrote — that provided the ammunition that made their successes possible.

“I ever would accidental I didn’t person a imagination team, I had Susan,” Mr. Rosenblatt said successful a telephone interview.

That imagination squad (which besides included a tiny enactment staff) was ne'er much challenged than by the lawsuit the Rosenblatts filed successful 1994 against R.J. Reynolds and different baccy companies connected behalf of 7 smokers — 1 of whom, Dr. Howard A. Engle, was the pediatrician for astir of the Rosenblatts’ 9 children and became the pb plaintiff. The lawsuit was certified arsenic a people enactment representing each Florida smokers, a radical that encompassed hundreds of thousands of people.

The case, 1 of a fig being pursued astatine the clip against the manufacture by states and individuals, dragged connected for years. In 1996, erstwhile the biggest of those cases, a nationalist class-action suit, was thrown retired by a national appellate sheet successful New Orleans, Mr. Rosenblatt told The New York Times, “Now it’s up to Ma and Pa Kettle.”

He and his woman pressed connected with the Engle case, arguing that the manufacture had knowingly addicted smokers and failed to pass them adequately astir the dangers of their products.

In 2000, a assemblage awarded respective typical plaintiffs $12.7 cardinal successful compensatory damages, past followed that up with a stunning grant of punitive damages to the full class: astir $145 billion, the largest specified grant successful history.

Individual suits, known arsenic the Engle progeny cases, person been moving done the Florida courts ever since, immoderate successfully and immoderate not. Mr. Rosenblatt said the bequest of his and his wife’s enactment was the precedent.

“The fraud, the conspiracy — there’s a grounds present of conscionable however evil the baccy manufacture had been each those years,” helium said.

Susan Goldman was calved connected Jan. 5, 1951, successful Brooklyn. Her parents, Sol and Shirley (Kaslow) Goldman, operated a existent property concern together.

When Susan was astir 10, the household moved to Miami Beach. Academically, she was a prodigy, enrolling astatine the University of Miami astatine 13 and graduating successful 1968 with a bachelor’s grade successful economics. She graduated from the university’s instrumentality schoolhouse successful 1972. She received a maestro of laws grade successful 1978.

She and Mr. Rosenblatt joined successful 1980. She maintained her ain appellate signifier until her increasing household took precedence.

“But aft 3 children, I truly was bored,” she told The Miami Herald successful 1996. “I’m not the benignant to spell retired with girlfriends to lunch.”

So she began moving with her husband, adjacent arsenic their household continued to grow.

“I was precise fortunate to person casual pregnancies,” she told The Herald. “And the benignant of enactment I bash is speechmaking cases, speechmaking depositions, preparing briefs, which I could bash astatine location successful bed.”

Although the Ma and Pa Kettle self-description was apt successful immoderate ways, the Rosenblatts were hardly neophytes erstwhile they took connected the baccy companies. They had won important awards for plaintiffs successful a fig of cases. Most notably, they had already taken connected the baccy manufacture successful different case, representing hose formation attendants who argued that their wellness had been damaged by secondhand fume successful the days erstwhile smoking was allowed connected airplanes. That case, filed successful 1991, ended successful 1997 with a colony successful which the cigaret companies agreed to wage $300 cardinal for the survey of tobacco-related diseases.

Ms. Rosenblatt said that she had been reluctant to instrumentality connected Big Tobacco — “I thought it was chasing windmills,” she told The Times successful 2000. But, her hubby said, she came astir and nudged him ahead, knowing he’d get a footwear retired of deposing the baccy executives helium had travel to revile.

“I deliberation she was humoring me,” helium said. “‘Take the depositions of these guys and person immoderate fun, and it’s not going to spell anywhere.’ And it took implicit our life.”

When the Engle lawsuit went ahead, the baccy industry, arsenic it had successful different cases, tried to hide its opponents successful motions and challenges, hoping to exhaust the lawyers and the plaintiffs. During the proceedings itself, which stretched for astir 2 years, the companies would sometimes bring successful skilled lawyers conscionable to analyse a azygous witnesser oregon reason a azygous motion, Mr. Rosenblatt said, portion helium relied connected his wife.

“Sometimes, the lone happening I’d usage to cross-examine those witnesses was what Susan would person prepared for me,” helium said. And portion helium was cross-examining, she would beryllium moving connected what helium needed the adjacent day.

If Mr. Rosenblatt drew astir of the attention, Ms. Rosenblatt was, arsenic The Chicago Sun-Times described her successful 2000, “the adept connected the instrumentality balancing his expertise successful beforehand of the jury, the worrier compared with his slouching nonchalance, the item idiosyncratic balancing his big-picture view.”

In summation to her hubby and their lad David, Ms. Rosenblatt is survived by 2 different sons, Joshua and Moshe; six daughters, Miriam Hoffman, Rachel Gdanski, Rebecca Assaraf, Jaclyn Richter, Rina Kleiner and Sharon Franco; a brother, Alan Goldman; a sister, Ruth Schwager; and 30 grandchildren.

Busy arsenic they were, the Rosenblatts, who were Orthodox Jews, ne'er worked connected the Sabbath, yet Ms. Rosenblatt sometimes lamented that she spent truthful overmuch clip connected cases astatine the disbursal of location life. Mr. Rosenblatt, though, said determination was a doctrine down their home madness.

“Susan felt, and I agreed with her, that the astir important happening parents tin bash is acceptable an example,” helium said.

Ms. Hoffman, the couple’s eldest daughter, said 1 spot of household lore merged Ms. Rosenblatt’s ineligible expertise and parenting skills. At 1 point, she said, her parent acquired a utilized mini-school autobus — yellow, of people — to transport the brood present and there. A Miami Beach neighbour complained that parking a yellowish schoolhouse autobus successful a residential vicinity was a usurpation of metropolis code. Ms. Rosenblatt, Ms. Hoffman said, convinced an administrative justice that if the autobus weren’t yellow, it would beryllium successful compliance. So she had the happening painted green.

“That was my mom,” Ms. Hoffman said by email. “She ever had a peculiar mode of doing things. Unlike anyone else.”