Professor Robert Rabin weighs in on how it’s unlikely two “Big Tobacco” companies will get a different ruling from the Eleventh Circuit court in their appeals cases since “the federal court is applying the law of the state where the injury occurred.”

Tobacco companies alleging they were denied due process and hit with unfair damages awards in Engle progeny cases will make their case to the Eleventh Circuit on Friday, but experts say they’re unlikely to succeed given both Eleventh Circuit precedent and Florida state court decisions favoring plaintiffs.

An Eleventh Circuit panel will hear two appeals by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Philip Morris USA Inc. on whether plaintiffs can rely on the original Engle jury’s findings to establish punitive damages and whether tobacco companies can have damages awards for intentional torts reduced because of plaintiff liability.

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Stanford Law professor Robert Rabin said that given the well-developed case law on the subject in the state courts, the federal appeals court would be unlikely to rule the opposite way.

“The Eleventh Circuit in these cases is applying Florida law, so it’s very unlikely that they will get a different result from the Eleventh Circuit than they’ve gotten from the Florida Supreme Court,” Rabin said. “In these cases, basically the federal court is applying the law of the state where the injury occurred.”