A gripping legal battle unfolds as a resident of Pinellas County, Florida, takes on some of the largest tobacco companies in the United States. On November 15, 2024, Ross Freitas filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit in Pinellas County against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Philip Morris USA, Inc., Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, Inc., Reynolds American, Inc., and Walmart, Inc. The lawsuit alleges that these companies are responsible for significant health issues he has suffered due to smoking their products.

Ross Freitas claims that his decades-long addiction to cigarettes led to severe health problems, including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and a heart attack. According to the lawsuit, Freitas began smoking Marlboro Lights and Natural American Spirit cigarettes in his twenties and continued this habit for over fifty years. He accuses the defendants of intentionally designing cigarettes to be highly addictive by manipulating nicotine levels and adding harmful compounds such as ammonia and arsenic. “Defendants purposefully and intentionally designed cigarettes to be highly addictive,” states the complaint.

The lawsuit delves into historical allegations against these tobacco giants, accusing them of engaging in a long-standing conspiracy to conceal the dangers of smoking from consumers like Freitas. The plaintiff alleges that internal documents from Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds reveal they were aware of nicotine’s addictive nature since the 1950s but chose to mislead the public through false advertising campaigns and deceptive marketing strategies. “For over half a century, Defendants concealed the addictive and deadly nature of cigarettes,” claims Freitas.