Florida widow wins $23.6 bn in RJ Reynolds tobacco payout

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 9:56am

"Miami (AFP) - A Florida jury has ordered RJ Reynolds tobacco to pay $23.6 billion to the wife of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer in a verdict seen as one of the largest for a single plaintiff in state history. In addition to the punitive damages, Friday's verdict also awarded more than $16 million in compensatory damages to the estate of Michael Johnson Sr."

I am not a smoker and I am not trying to protect the company that sells the cigarettes but this award is downright absurd! No one is ignorant to the dangers of smoking. For at least the past 20 years the warnings have been getting more graphic to the point that I turn away when I see the commercials on TV.

The article does wrap up by noting, "In January the United States marked the 50th anniversary of the first surgeon general's report warning that smoking caused lung cancer."
Full article about $23.6 bn jury verdict

[Addison D.]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 11:35am

I haven't clicked on your link yet, so I don't know anything about the specifics of this case, but I believe the point at issue in many of the smoking cases moving forward at this point is that the plaintiffs (or their survivors) demonstrate that they began smoking at a time when the General Public was not yet widely informed on the dangers of smoking yet the tobacco companies WERE, internally, aware of the health risks.

The cases that have been identified as posing a serious threat to the tobacco companies (and it would seem this is one of them) concern plaintiffs (or their survivors) who can demonstrate, moreover, that they made multiple attempts to quit smoking, but that the addictive nature of the ingredients--allegedly added to cigarettes by the tobacco companies in order to foster addiction--made quitting impossible.

These conditions would seem to suggest a scenario in which someone innocently falls victim to a concerted campaign by the cigarette mfrs that willfully deceived consumers about the risks of their product AND "coerced" them into continued--and lethal--use.

Updated On: 7/21/14 at 11:35 AM