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View Full Version : Fla. jury awards $300 million in ex-smoker's suit




squarepusher
11-20-2009, 06:01 AM
Something just doesn't seem right about this
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091120/ap_on_bi_ge/us_florida_smokers
Fla. jury awards $300 million in ex-smoker's suit


By CHRISTINE ARMARIO, Associated Press Writer Christine Armario, Associated Press Writer – Thu Nov 19, 10:34 pm ET

MIAMI – A South Florida jury on Thursday ordered Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million to a former smoker, agreeing that the tobacco company's negligence was the cause of her emphysema.

The award for Cindy Naugle, 61, is the largest to date among thousands of lawsuits filed in the state against tobacco companies.

"Cindy admitted her fault to the jury," her attorney, Robert W. Kelley, said in a statement. "But Philip Morris refused to accept any responsibility for her emphysema, even though she was an addicted customer for 25 years."

The award amounts to $56 million in compensatory and $244 million in punitive damages against Richmond, Virginia-based Philip Morris USA, a unit of Altria Group Inc. The company said it will seek further review of the verdict by the Broward County jury.

"From the beginning, this case was marked by a fundamentally unfair and unconstitutional trial plan that allowed the jury to rely on findings by a prior jury that have no connection to the plaintiff," said Murray Garnick, senior vice president for Altria client services and associate general counsel, said in a statement.

The case is one of 8,000 lawsuits filed against tobacco companies by Florida smokers and their families.

Attorneys for Naugle, the sister of a former Fort Lauderdale mayor, said it's the largest Florida tobacco verdict to date.

"The jury saw her condition," Todd Falzone, who also represented Naugle, said in a statement. "We think that they felt it. She needed to rest for five minutes to catch her breath after making the 7 step walk to the witness stand."

Naugle started smoking in 1968 when she was 20 because she thought they "made her look older." After several attempts to quit, she stopped smoking in 1993 with the aid of a nicotine patch.

She requires 24-hour oxygen and must travel in a wheelchair because walking leaves her exhausted, her attorneys said.

Falzone said Naugle spends every minute "as if she were drowning."

The smokers' lawsuits have been working their way through Florida courts since the state Supreme Court in 2006 voided a $145 billion class-action jury award against tobacco companies. The court said each smoker's case had to be decided individually, but let stand that jury's findings that tobacco companies knowingly sold dangerous products and hid risks from the public.

"Large verdicts encourage other large verdicts," said Richard A. Daynard, professor of law at Northeastern University and chairman of the Tobacco Products Liability Project. "I think Philip Morris has finally met its match in Florida. This gives jurors permission to fully compensate plaintiffs for all the harm they suffered and to express their moral outrage at the industry's behavior."

The original Florida lawsuit was filed in 1994 by a Miami Beach pediatrician, Dr. Howard Engle, who had smoked for decades and couldn't quit. The class of smokers was estimated at up to 700,000 when the giant $145 billion award was issued in 2000.



related
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgeon_General%27s_Warning#United_States_of_Ameri ca

United States of America
[edit] Cigarettes

* Caution: Cigarette Smoking May be Hazardous to Your Health (1966-1970)
* Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined that Cigarette Smoking is Dangerous to Your Health (1970-1985)
* SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy. (1985-)
* SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Quitting Smoking Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks to Your Health. (1985-)
* SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking By Pregnant Women May Result in Fetal Injury, Premature Birth, And Low Birth Weight. (1985-)
* SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide. (1985-)

Though America started the trend of labelling cigarette packages with health warnings, today the country has one of the smallest, least prominent warnings placed on their packages.[12] Warnings are usually in small typeface placed along one of the sides of the cigarette packs with colors and fonts that closely resemble the rest of the package, so the warnings essentially are integrated and do not stand out with the rest of the cigarette package.[12] However, this is subject to change as the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 requires cigarette warning labels to cover 50 percent of the front and rear of each pack, with the word warning in capital letters.

Reason
11-21-2009, 01:49 AM
so dumb

DamianTV
11-21-2009, 03:48 AM
Maybe non smokers will take up smoking just so they can sue tobacco companies?

Kludge
11-21-2009, 03:56 AM
Justice served on all counts. Asshole manufacturers hit with more fines for purposefully manufacturing dangerous/addictive products, and the bitch who sued is on oxygen and can only move in a wheelchair -- she'll probably die soon. Ethically kludgey method, the asshole lawyers were paid, and the "Justice System" was further legitimized through use, but.... good job, God.