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FORMER SMOKER WINS TOBACCO CASE
Posted by: Darrell Castle
November 23, 2009
Topic: Personal Injury
A jury in Fort Lauderdale Florida ordered Phillip Morris USA to pay $300 million to a former smoker who now needs a lung transplant. If this case survives on appeal it would be the largest award to an individual in a tobacco case. A state Supreme Court ruling in Florida made it easier for plaintiffs to prevail in tobacco cases by lowering the burden of proof. In 1998 the seven largest tobacco companies agreed to pay $206 billion in a master settlement with 46 states. Florida was one of those states but the state supreme court lowered the burden of proof in 2006 thus opening the door for thousands of new suits. The Florida court rejected a class action verdict of $145 billion and said plaintiffs would have to sue individually, but the court lowered the burden of proof for those individuals. The key elements traditionally required for proof in a tobacco case: that nicotine is addictive, that smoking causes diseases, and that cigarette companies hid those facts no longer have to be proven in the Florida cases.
Last Thursday's $300 million award included $56 million in compensatory damages and $244 million in punitive damages. The trial lasted three weeks and the jury deliberated for three hours. The plaintiff started smoking when she was 20 and quit when she was 45 years old. She alleges that she now has severe emphysema and needs a lung transplant. The Jury found her 10% liable for her disease and Phillip Morris 90%. More than 9000 cases now await trial in Florida but Phillip Morris expects the appellate court to reject the relaxed burden of proof set by the Florida Supreme Court.
