A Florida Supreme Court ruling that threw out a $145 billion award against cigarette makers is biting Big Tobacco back, making it dramatically easier for thousands of smokers to sue and turning the state into the nation's hot spot for damage awards.

The 2006 ruling has helped generate more than $360 million in damage awards in only about two dozen cases. Thousands more cases are in the pipeline in Florida, which has far more smoking-related lawsuits pending than any other state.

Though the justices tossed the $145 billion class-action damage award, they allowed about 8,000 individual members of that class to pursue their own lawsuits. And in a critical decision, they allowed those plaintiffs to use the original jury's findings from the class-action case.

That means the plaintiffs don't have to prove that cigarette makers sold a defective and dangerous product, were negligent, hid the risks of smoking and that cigarettes cause illnesses such as lung cancer and heart disease. The plaintiffs must mainly show they were addicted to smoking and could not quit, and that their illness — or a smoker's death — was caused by cigarettes.

Jurors have sided with smokers or their families in about two-thirds of the 34 cases tried since February 2009, when the first Florida lawsuit following the rules set by the Supreme Court decision went before a jury. Awards have ranged from $2 million or less to $80 million, though tobacco companies are appealing them all.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has rejected a constitutional challenge against the state's Judicial Nominating Commission.

The high court on Tuesday overruled claims in a lawsuit that challenged the makeup of the commission that nominates candidates to fill judicial vacancies.

The case could have affected some recent judicial appointments including at least one Supreme Court justice.

Gov. Brad Henry last month appointed Oklahoma County District Judge Noma Gurich to fill a vacancy on the high court. The court rejected arguments by opponents who said the appointment may not be valid until the commission is reconstituted according to a ballot measure approved by voters in November.

Gurich has yet to be sworn in to the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Marian Opala on Oct. 11.

Federal prosecutors have rested in the corruption trial of a former northeastern Pennsylvania judge charged with taking part in a $2.8 million kickback scheme involving privately-owned juvenile detention centers.

Two IRS agents testified Monday morning in the trial of ex-Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella. Prosecutors say Ciavarella and another judge disguised extortion payments as rent on a condo in Florida.

IRS agent Ray Eppley testified that the judges failed to pay nearly $500,000 in taxes on illicit income.

The state Supreme Court threw out thousands of juvenile convictions issued by Ciavarella, saying he disregarded the constitutional rights of the defendants. He has denied breaking any laws.

The second judge pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and awaits sentencing.

The Wisconsin superintendent who received $140,000 a year in salary and benefits has been declared indigent and will get a taxpayer-funded attorney to defend him against charges of trying to solicit sex from a minor.

At a hearing in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Monday, New Holstein superintendent Christopher Nelson was appointed a lawyer who will be paid $60 an hour by Milwaukee County. A lien will be placed on Nelson's retirement benefits.

The 58-year-old Nelson was arrested Jan. 19 while attending a school board convention in Milwaukee. Prosecutors say he tried to arrange a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old boy who was actually an undercover investigator. The Sheboygan Press says the two had been chatting online since June.

The former Wellesley College student who was found not guilty by reason of insanity of stabbing her former boyfriend as he slept in his MIT dorm room was allowed to go free yesterday, after a judge decided not to have her committed to a psychiatric hospital, her attorney and a prosecutor said.

Anna Tang, 24, of Brighton, was initially charged with armed assault with attempt to murder in 2007 after prosecutors accused her of sneaking into Wolfe Styke’s dorm room and stabbing him while he slept. Tang admitted stabbing Styke, but maintained that she was not criminally responsible by reason of mental illness.

Tang waived her right to a jury trial and on Jan. 8, Judge Bruce Henry found her not guilty by reason of insanity of armed assault with attempt to murder, home invasion, and assault with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, Tang’s lawyer Robert A. George said yesterday.

After her acquittal, Tang was sent to the Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center in Boston for evaluation. Yesterday, at a commitment hearing in Middlesex Superior Court, Henry decided against having her committed to a mental health facility and ordered her to be released.

The lawyer for Julian Assange argued Monday the embattled WikiLeaks founder would face a secret trial that violates international standards of fairness if sent to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations.

The leader of the secret-spilling website is fighting extradition in part because Swedish rape trials are customarily held in secret, Geoffrey Robertson said at the start of a two-day extradition hearing. Closed-door hearings would be "a flagrant denial of justice ... blatantly unfair, not only by British standards but by European standards and indeed by international standards," he said.

Assange is accused of sexual misconduct by two women he met during a visit to Stockholm last year. Rape trials are often held behind closed doors in Sweden to protect the alleged victims.

Assange denies wrongdoing. Defense lawyers also argue he should not be extradited because he has not been charged with a crime, because of flaws in Swedish prosecutors' case — and because a ticket to Sweden could eventually land him in Guantanamo Bay or on U.S. death row.