Former smoker awarded $300m damages

A SOUTH Florida jury has ordered Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million (€202m) 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 $56m in compensatory and $244m 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.

The case is one of 8,000 lawsuits filed against tobacco firms 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,” said Todd Falzone, who also represented Naugle. “We think that they felt it. She needed to rest for five minutes to catch her breath after making the seven-step walk to the witness stand.”