Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of cardiovascular death in the United States. About 1 in 4 cardiovascular deaths is attributable to smoking, and smokers are 2 to 4 times more likely to develop coronary artery disease than people who have never smoked. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with heart disease, suffered a heart attack, or developed peripheral arterial disease after a history of smoking, you may have a case.
Board Certified trial lawyer Alex Alvarez and medical-legal expert Herb Borroto, M.D., J.D., handle cigarette heart disease cases for smokers and their families in Hawaii, Oregon, New Mexico, Illinois, and Florida. Free review. No fees unless we recover money for you.
If all three of the boxes below describe your situation, a free case review is worth 15 minutes. You do not have to be 100% sure about any of them — close is close enough at this stage.
Most cigarette heart disease cases involve smokers who used cigarettes regularly for years or decades, often starting before the public knew the full risks. It does not matter what brand you smoked, what state you lived in when you started, or whether you quit a long time ago. The cumulative damage from past smoking is what matters.
A confirmed diagnosis is the medical foundation of any case. This includes coronary artery disease (CAD), heart attack (myocardial infarction), peripheral arterial disease (PAD), abdominal aortic aneurysm, and significant atherosclerosis. The diagnosis can be recent or from years ago — what matters is the date and the medical record.
Our firm currently handles cigarette heart disease cases in Hawaii, Oregon, New Mexico, Illinois, and Florida. The state where the case can be filed depends on where you lived when you smoked, where you were diagnosed, and where you live now. If you are unsure, the free review will sort it out. Wrongful-death cases for a deceased loved one are handled in those same five states.
Free, confidential, and there is no fee unless we recover money for you.
Cigarette smoking damages the cardiovascular system in multiple measurable ways. The numbers below come directly from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association — not from law firms.
Of cardiovascular deaths
are attributable to smoking each year, according to the CDC.
More likely to develop CAD
are people who smoke compared to people who have never smoked.
Surgeon General's first warning
linking smoking to heart disease — though internal industry research had documented the link earlier.
Cigarette smoke damages blood vessels in several documented ways. Carbon monoxide reduces the amount of oxygen the blood can carry. Nicotine constricts arteries and raises blood pressure. The thousands of chemicals in cigarette smoke trigger chronic inflammation in the arterial walls and accelerate the buildup of cholesterol-laden plaque. Over years, that combination produces atherosclerosis — hardened, narrowed arteries — throughout the body.
When atherosclerosis affects the coronary arteries that feed the heart muscle, it produces coronary artery disease (CAD) and, when a plaque ruptures and a clot forms, a heart attack. When it affects the arteries in the legs, it produces peripheral arterial disease (PAD). When it affects the aorta, it can lead to abdominal aortic aneurysm. Smokers face elevated risk for all of these — and the risk increases with the duration and intensity of smoking.
That is the medical picture. The legal picture is what lets a case go forward: tobacco companies knew about these cardiovascular risks for decades and chose to hide them. The U.S. Surgeon General formally connected smoking to heart disease in 1964. Internal cigarette industry documents released through later litigation show that manufacturers were tracking the cardiovascular risks of their products well before that, and continued to deny the link publicly long after.
Cardiovascular disease comes in many forms, and smoking is a major risk factor for all of them. The conditions below are the ones most commonly tied to a long smoking history.
CAD is the most common form of heart disease and the leading cause of death in the U.S. It develops when plaque narrows the arteries that supply blood to the heart. Smokers face roughly 2–4 times the risk of CAD compared to non-smokers, and the risk rises with pack-years and time smoked.
Often diagnosed after symptoms of angina, an abnormal stress test, or imaging.
A heart attack happens when a coronary artery is blocked by a blood clot, usually at the site of an existing plaque. Smoking dramatically increases the risk of heart attack at every age, and the risk is particularly elevated in younger smokers (under 50). Heart attacks can be fatal or leave permanent damage to the heart muscle.
Smoking is one of the most powerful modifiable risk factors for premature MI.
PAD develops when atherosclerosis narrows arteries in the legs and other peripheral parts of the body. It causes pain, cramping, and reduced blood flow that can lead to non-healing wounds and, in advanced cases, amputation. Smoking is the strongest single risk factor for PAD.
Most PAD patients have a substantial smoking history.
An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a weakened, bulging area in the body's largest artery. If it ruptures, it is often fatal. Smoking is the strongest risk factor — the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force specifically recommends one-time screening ultrasound for men aged 65–75 with a smoking history because the connection is so well established.
The most common reason smokers don't pursue a case is that they assume they can't — that because they chose to smoke, they have no claim against the companies that sold them cigarettes. Courts across the country have rejected that argument for one simple reason: the tobacco companies committed fraud.
The major U.S. cigarette manufacturers — including Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, Lorillard, and Liggett — spent decades publicly denying what their own internal scientists had already proven. They funded misleading research, manipulated nicotine levels to make their products more addictive, and aimed marketing at young people who could not have given informed consent. None of that is up for debate — it is on the record in federal court.
In 2006, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler issued a 1,683-page ruling in United States v. Philip Morris USA finding that the major cigarette companies had violated the federal RICO racketeering statute through a 50-year fraud scheme. That ruling was upheld on appeal. It sits in the public record alongside the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement and millions of pages of internal industry documents released through prior litigation.
What that means for an individual case: a smoker does not have to prove from scratch that cigarette companies lied. The federal courts have already found it. An individual case still has to prove the medical link between that specific smoker's history and their specific diagnosis, but the underlying fraud is established public record.
Every state sets a deadline — called a statute of limitations — for filing a personal injury or wrongful death case. Once it passes, a case usually cannot be brought, no matter how strong the evidence is. The deadlines below are general; the discovery rule and other state-specific factors can shift them.
2 years
From the date of diagnosis or death. Florida has its own discovery rule for cases where the harm wasn't apparent right away.
2 years
From the date of diagnosis or death. Illinois courts apply the discovery rule in cases where the smoking-disease link wasn't known until later.
2 years
From the date the harm was, or reasonably should have been, discovered. Hawaii has strong consumer-protection laws relevant to tobacco cases.
2 years
From the date the smoker knew or reasonably should have known of the smoking-disease connection. Oregon's product liability statute can also apply in some cases.
3 years
From the date of diagnosis or death for personal injury cases; longer for some wrongful-death and product liability claims.
Don't guess
The discovery rule, wrongful death rules, and pending litigation all affect the actual deadline in your case.
Confirm Your DeadlineA note on Florida: Florida has a long history of tobacco litigation, including the Engle class action. The Florida Supreme Court closed that class to new filings on January 11, 2008, so no new Florida smoker can file as an "Engle progeny" plaintiff today. But Florida smokers can still pursue standard product liability and fraud cases against the tobacco companies — and the Engle court's findings about the industry's conduct remain part of the public record those new cases can rely on. Read more on the Engle class →
If a parent, spouse, sibling, or child died of a heart attack or other cardiovascular event after a history of smoking, your family may be able to bring a wrongful-death case against the tobacco companies. The same fraud and concealment evidence that supports a living smoker's case supports a wrongful-death claim — and many of the most significant verdicts in tobacco litigation have been wrongful-death cases brought by surviving families.
Each state has its own rules about who can file a wrongful-death case and on what timeline. In general, surviving spouses, children, and (in some states) parents and siblings have standing. The deadline usually starts on the date of death, though state-specific rules vary. Even if a smoker passed away years ago, it is worth a call — some windows are longer than people assume.
We handle these cases with care. Pulling medical records, identifying the responsible cigarette brands from the smoker's history, and connecting the medical and legal evidence is what the firm does — and it costs nothing to find out whether a case is possible.
You do not have to gather any of this before calling — we handle records requests for our clients at no cost. But if you want to be ready for a productive first conversation, the following items are the most useful.
A rough smoking history
Approximate years smoked, brands smoked (a few names is fine), about how many cigarettes per day, when you quit (if you have).
The diagnosis or event date and type
The month and year of the heart disease diagnosis, heart attack, or other cardiac event, plus the specific type if you know it (CAD, MI, PAD, etc.). Approximate is fine.
Treating cardiologist and hospital names
The cardiologist who diagnosed or managed the condition, plus the hospital where any cardiac catheterization, stent, bypass, or hospital admission happened.
State residency history
Where you (or the person who passed) lived during the smoking years and where you live now — this affects which state's law applies.
For wrongful-death cases: date of death and surviving family
If you are calling on behalf of a loved one who passed, the date of death and a rough list of surviving family members (spouse, children, etc.).
What people ask most often about heart disease cases — with plain-English answers.
The CDC reports that cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of cardiovascular death in the U.S., accounting for about 1 in 4 cardiovascular deaths. Smokers are 2 to 4 times more likely to develop coronary artery disease than people who have never smoked. The chemicals in cigarette smoke damage the lining of blood vessels, accelerate atherosclerosis, raise blood pressure, and increase clot formation — all of which combine to drive heart attacks, CAD, PAD, and aortic aneurysms.
Yes, in many cases. The cardiovascular damage from smoking accumulates over years and persists long after a smoker quits — the artery walls do not return to baseline. Many smoking-related heart attacks happen years or decades after the person stopped smoking. What matters legally is the smoking history and the medical link to the diagnosis, not whether the person was still smoking when the heart attack happened.
Possibly. Federal courts have already found that the major U.S. tobacco companies — including Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, and Lorillard — committed fraud and racketeering by hiding what they knew about smoking and disease for decades. The 2006 federal RICO ruling specifically discussed the cardiovascular harms tobacco companies concealed. That public record supports lawsuits filed by smokers and their families.
All major smoking-linked cardiovascular conditions can support a case. This includes coronary artery disease (CAD), heart attacks (MI), peripheral arterial disease (PAD), abdominal aortic aneurysm, and significant atherosclerosis. Even cases involving heart failure secondary to coronary disease can qualify when the underlying cause is smoking.
Each state has its own statute of limitations. In Florida and Illinois the deadline is generally 2 years from the date of diagnosis or death. In Hawaii, Oregon, and New Mexico the windows vary, and the discovery rule may apply. Because these deadlines are strict, the only safe answer is to call as soon as possible after a diagnosis or after a loved one's death — even a short delay can permanently bar a case.
Surviving family members can bring wrongful-death lawsuits on behalf of a smoker who died from a heart attack or other smoking-caused cardiovascular event. The same fraud and concealment evidence that supports a living smoker's case supports a wrongful-death claim, and surviving spouses, children, and other family members may be eligible to recover. State law controls who can file and what time limits apply.
Every factual claim on this page is supported by a verifiable public source. Click any source below to read the original.
If a heart attack, CAD diagnosis, or other cardiovascular event followed years of smoking — for you or for someone you love — the only way to know whether you have a case is a free, confidential review. Statutes of limitations are strict, and waiting can permanently close the door.
No Fees Unless We Recover Money for You.
Last reviewed:
Browse the full library of cigarette and tobacco litigation guides.
Start here — overview of cigarette and smoking-disease litigation.
Practice-area page: who qualifies, types of lung cancer, state filing deadlines.
Practice-area page: emphysema, chronic bronchitis, severe-stage COPD, state deadlines.
Practice-area page: ischemic, hemorrhagic, TIA, subarachnoid stroke cases.
Bladder, throat, esophageal, oral, pancreatic, kidney, AML and more.
Latest news on tobacco litigation, FDA actions, and case law.
Why no Florida smoker can file as Engle progeny today, and what is still possible.
Legal options for new smokers and survivors in 2026.
Legal rights for smokers diagnosed with lung cancer and their families.
Legal rights for smokers diagnosed with COPD and emphysema.
Decades of internal documents proving the cigarette industry knew the risks.
