Tobacco companies in the US won a big legal victory when the Florida Supreme Court upheld a decision to toss out a $US145 billion ($195 billion) judgement against them. The ruling, one of the last remaining personal injury class-action cases against tobacco companies, is a crushing blow to plaintiffs' lawyers, who have pushed for large class-action cases with the potential for multibillion-dollar verdicts. The six-judge Florida court stated on Thursday that smokers' cases were "highly individualised" and did "not lend themselves to class-action treatment". Investors applauded the decision, which drastically reduces the possibility of massive, bank-breaking awards in tobacco cases. Shares in the two largest companies named in the suit, Altria, the parent of Philip Morris, and Reynolds American, which owns R.