LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the next phase of the multi- billion dollar tobacco trail. Lawyers from both sides in the Florida class-action lawsuit reconvened in a Miami courtroom after Friday's $145-billion award from the jury. CNN's Susan Candiotti is in Miami this morning and she is going to tell us what happens next -- Susan.</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. That hearing will take place in about an hour and a half from now. Now it is time for the tobacco attorneys to forge ahead with the appeals process. When a jury delivered that record $145-billion verdict on Friday, it seemed that even the judge was a bit taken aback, because he said "a lot of zeros" when he was reading the verdict form. Now today, or even before there was a verdict, attorneys for the five tobacco companies that were being sued said that they intended to appeal. Today it's more or less a rather routine hearing. The judge will be setting up a scheduled for the appeals process. He may even receive a motion from the tobacco industry, formalizing their appeal, or alternately, the tobacco attorneys may simply ask for an extension of time in which they may file their appeal. So there will be some discussion back and forth. Remember, this judge still has to hear -- decide on a lot of pretrial motions. There were a number of mistrial motions during the course of this trial. And so much more needs to be done before all of this will be wrapped up. Of course, the judge does have the option of reducing the number, the damages award, but there's no telling how long that would take. Some experts say anywhere from one to two years, others say it will take much longer than that. Susan Candiotti, CNN, reporting live in Miami.</s>HARRIS: All right, thank you, Susan.
Florida Tobacco Trial: Tobacco Attorneys to Forge Ahead with Appeals Process