Personal Injury Law

Lung Injuries from Smoking? Just Sue the Tobacco Company?

By mbrickley

According to a New York Times article, Phillip Morris recently paid former smoker ? Lucinda Naugle - $300 million in the state of Florida because of lung injuries she suffered.

As a result of her years of smoking she needed a lung transplant, and she sued the tobacco company as a result.

In the state of Florida, smokers can no longer file class action lawsuits due to a state Supreme Court ruling back in 2006. But the ruling also made it so that smokers who do file individual lawsuits have less to prove.

The Florida Supreme Court ruling made it easy to pursue tobacco lawsuits in the state. In the 2006 trial, the Supreme Court rejected a class action lawsuit for $145 million. The ruling stated smokers needed to file individually.

Even though the plaintiffs lost the lawsuit, the Florida Supreme court stated with individual lawsuits the individual has fewer burdens of proof.

The court stated plaintiff?s do not have to prove the following: nicotine is addictive, smoking causes disease, and that cigarette companies fraudulently hid these facts from the public.

In the case of 61-year-old Lucinda Naugle, she was awarded $56 million in compensatory damages and $244 million in punitive damages for suffering from lung injuries.

Naugle started smoking when she was 20, and quit smoking when she was 45 years old.

According to her lawyer ? Robert W Kelley - Naugle suffers from ?severe emphysema and needs a lung transplant that she cannot afford.?

The jury placed 10 percent liability on Naugle for choosing to smoke, thus causing her to suffer from lung injuries.
Law experts? claim this verdict may open up the door for future lawsuits against tobacco companies.

Plaintiffs from the 2006 class action lawsuit have begun to file separate lawsuits from suffering their injuries.

The Altria Group - Phillip Morris? parent company - claims it will appeal the verdict and that they do not agree with the state?s rules as they were ?fundamentally unfair and unconstitutional.?

Spokesman for the Altria Group - Brendan J. McCormick - stated the company believes the federal court will reject Florida?s ?standards of proof.?

The company is confident they will win the appeal. The counsel for Phillip Morris stated, ?We believe that the punitive damages award is grossly excessive and a clear violation of constitutional and state law.?

So far this verdict is the largest sum awarded a smoker in a Florida state lawsuit against the tobacco companies, the New York Times reported.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on December 08, 2009 (boomark / email).