Many of the tobacco and asbestos type litigation cases are very lengthy if they are not settled out of court. Cases that actually go to trial may take years to settle and then go through years of appeals before the settlements are finally provided.

Individuals that started smoking prior to the mandatory warning labels of the danger of smoking are often involved in product liability cases where the manufacturer failed to warn about the dangers of smoking. These cases have been some of the most successful private lawsuits against tobacco companies with many settling quickly and out of court.

There was a time when no tobacco company could be beaten in a liability case, but it's gotten almost impossible to claim, with a straight face, that smoking doesn't cause lung cancer, emphysema, and other diseases. Juries are starting to respond, so don't lose hope.