BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A Palm Beach County man is suing two of the nation’s biggest cigarette makers, plus Publix Super Markets, claiming decades of smoking left him with a serious lung disease he says the companies knew was coming — and worked to hide.
Frank J. Greenberg filed the lawsuit Tuesday in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Philip Morris USA Inc. and Publix. According to the complaint, Greenberg started smoking at just 12 years old and kept up a habit of one and a half to two packs a day for decades, working through Lucky Strike, Marlboro Red and Camel cigarettes. He finally quit in 2008. In late 2024, he was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, commonly known as COPD.
The lawsuit accuses R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris of engineering cigarettes to hook smokers young and keep them hooked, including by adding ammonia-based compounds to boost nicotine’s punch and designing filters that gave smokers a false sense of safety. Greenberg’s attorneys argue the companies knew filtered cigarettes did little to cut the risk of cancer or lung disease, yet marketed them as “safer” and “milder” anyway. The complaint lays out claims of negligence, strict liability and fraud against both manufacturers.
Publix is named as a defendant too, accused of selling defective cigarette products to Greenberg over the years he smoked. The lawsuit doesn’t specify an exact dollar figure but seeks damages above $50,000, covering pain and suffering, mental anguish, medical bills and lost income.
Greenberg is represented by attorney William H. Ogle of the Ogle Law Firm in Daytona Beach.None of the defendants had filed a response as of late Saturday afternoon.
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Lawsuit will be thrown out in a heart beat.
I’ve started smoking back in 1980 and warning labels were all over the packs of cigarettes.
I have COPD and have had 2 spontaneous lung collapses because of smoking.
I just also had major lung surgery a month ago.
lol I would love toto sue but it’s my own damn fault.
But maybe could sue the makers of the cigarette vending machines which made it accessible for us at 12 years old to be able to sneak and buy our packs of smokes!!
Frivolous law suit! Cigarettes have had warnings on all packages for decades; as well as on machines etc. even warnings to pregnant women. He’s the idiot that didn’t follow the written warnings! The attorney is a disgrace.
I do not understand how this law firm would launch such a baseless lawsuit. In 1965, our government made manufacturers place warning notices on all packages. I am sorry that this man has COPD, but if he had stopped smoking in 1965, there is a significant chance that he would not have this problem and if he did that it would be much less severe. As a physician for over 40 years, I and all my colleagues have encouraged our patients to stop smoking. If someone decided to continue, they clearly knew the risk.
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