Personal Injury Law

Philip Morris USA Plans $8 Million Tobacco Appeal

By Jane Akre

Tobacco giant Philip Morris USA, was dealt an $8 million blow Wednesday when a Fort Lauderdale jury awarded the widow of a smoker $8 million in damages.  The company says it plans to appeal.

"Today's verdict was the result of an unconstitutional and profoundly flawed trial procedure," says Murray Garnick, a spokesman for the company to Bizjournals. "Fundamental fairness requires the plaintiff to establish basic liability before a jury can award damages."

The company's appeal will challenge whether prior findings should be used as a basis to try future cases. 

Jurors were allowed to rely on the previous court findings of the Engle class-action that established tobacco companies knowingly put out a dangerous product and worked to hide the dangers from the public. When the class was decertified in 2006, plaintiffs were told to file individual cases in Florida courts, but could rely on the Engle findings.   

8,000 cases were filed.  Besides Philip Morris, other cigarette makers to stand trial will be Reynolds American Inc., and Vector Group Ltd.

It took two days for the six jurors to deliver the favorable verdict to Elaine Hess.

In 1997, Elaine Hess' husband, Stuart Hess, 55, died of lung cancer after decades as a chain smoker. Lawyers for Philip Morris argued that Hess could have quit smoking, but his widow convinced the jury he had tried but was hopelessly addicted and unable to quit. 

Lawyers at trial played the 1994 video testimony of the "Seven Dwarfs" - the top seven tobacco company executives who denied that cigarettes were addictive. 

This phase of the trial awarded Mrs. Hess $3 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Philip Morris will try to reverse the punative and reduce the compensatory award.

The company is a unit of the Altria Group Inc., the largest U.S. cigarette maker. Bloomberg reports that Altria fell 4 cents to $15.53 on the NYSE.

Philip Morris is already appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court a $79.5 million award in an Oregon case. Other large awards have been reduced or reversed on appeal.   #

Full post as published by InjuryBoard on February 19, 2009 (boomark / email).