Tobacco firms agree to reimburse the state's medical bills over 25 years

Florida Settles $11bn Tobacco Claim

The lawsuit, worth $11.3bn, was brought to recover the cost of treating sick smokers.

The settlement is nearly three times higher than one agreed with Mississippi -- the only other state to have reached a settlement out of the 40 which have sued the tobacco industry.

A statement issued on behalf of Florida's governor, Lawton Chiles, said: "Florida's victory includes the largest monetary concessions the industry has ever paid and the toughest prohibitions ever imposed on advertising and marketing to children.

Lawton Chiles: "We wanted to stop them targeting our children" Dur: 34"

"Unlike the national settlement, Florida's settlement will not require federal approval but will be court-enforced and take effect almost immediately."

Tobacco companies agreed in June to pay $368.5bn, admit that tobacco is addictive and accept extensive federal regulation over their products and their advertising as part of a landmark agreement with state attorneys general.

In return, the companies would be given immunity from any further punitive liability for deception, fraud or conspiracy that might have occurred in the past. That deal remains subject to Congressional approval.

The Florida settlement takes the state out of that agreement. It was reached after the chairman of RJR Nabisco Holdings Corporation, Steven Goldstone, said in a deposition at the trial on Friday that he believed smoking contributed to lung cancer.

A day earlier, Geoffrey Bible, the chief executive officer of Philip Morris Companies Inc., the nation's largest tobacco company, said in a deposition that 100,000 people a year may have died from smoking.