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Florida jury awards $23.6 billion to widow in smoking lawsuit

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by scurvy, Jul 20, 2014.

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  1. #1
    This is utter incredible but well deserved. Beginning of the end for the Tobacco Industry. This'll make every loon with a chest cold sue the cigarette companies for a billion or two.

    "A Florida jury awarded a widow $23.6 billion in punitive damages in her lawsuit against tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, her lawyer said.
    Cynthia Robinson claimed that smoking killed her husband, Michael Johnson, in 1996. She argued R.J. Reynolds was negligent in not informing him that nicotine is addictive and smoking can cause lung cancer. Johnson started smoking when he was 13 and died of lung cancer when he was 36."

    Source
     
    scurvy, Jul 20, 2014 IP
  2. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #2
    Juries often award sympathetic victims large amounts of money. The defendants will appeal both the result and the amount awarded. Appeals courts have strong precedent to follow as to what is typical and/or allowable in such cases. The award will likely be cut back to a typical amount by the courts. I think that in the U.S., some awards are capped by law because that was the deal made when the labeling and advertising laws were passed.
     
    jrbiz, Jul 20, 2014 IP
  3. Melloweitsj

    Melloweitsj Well-Known Member

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    #3
    Wow. Im not a big fan of the tobacco companies myself, but $23.6 billion sounded a little excessive.
     
    Melloweitsj, Jul 20, 2014 IP
  4. dscurlock

    dscurlock Prominent Member

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    #4
    Sounds very unrealistic for just one case, unless the victim was a billionaire....
    But to award just one person that much money, and ignore others would be a crime....
    Sounds kind of ignorant that this person did not know that smoking kills. In order to claim that
    you did not know the harm, then you would have to have been one of the very first smokers...
    and I would imagine the first packs of cigs that came out did not have warnings on them...

    and i am pretty sure at some point in his smoking career he was informed
    on cigarette packs that smoking can cause cancer, and knowing or not knowing
    about nicotine does not matter, would he have stopped? people know very
    well today that smoking is addictive, and may kill you, but it does not stop them.
    so saying that he would have stopped if he had known is argumentative at best...
     
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2014
    dscurlock, Jul 23, 2014 IP