Take Heed 'Cause He's a Lyrical Poet

Judge William Pryor recently wrote a panel opinion for the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in which the court held that certain jury findings from a 1999 class action lawsuit brought by smokers against cigarette manufacturers could be used against the manufacturers in subsequent trials.

 

In the opinion, Judge Pryor noted that the risks of smoking have long been known and cited a 1947 song by Tex Williams—“Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette):”

 

            Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette

            Puff, puff, puff, and if you smoke yourself to death

            Tell Saint Peter at the Golden Gate

            That you hate to make him wait

            But you’ve just got to have another cigarette

 

Pryor isn’t a novice citer of song lyrics—in a 2011 opinion in a suit involving the group Expose, Pryor scattered the group's song titles through the opinion, discussing, for example, how the relationships between the members and management reached a “Point of No Return” and how the district court's ruling wasn't the “End of the World” for one litigant.  That case is Crystal Entertainment & Filmworks, Inc. v. Jurado, 643 F.3d 1313 (11th Cir. 2011).