Massachusetts jury awarded $17.5 million to the family of an individual who smoked for decades before dying of lung cancer, in the verdict against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
The family of the victim was awarded $6.26 million in compensatory damages and $11.27 million in punitive damages. According to the Courtroom Video Network, Reynolds was found 50.42% guilty for the victim's illness while she was found 49.58% responsible.
The plaintiff attorney stated that she began smoking R. J. Reynolds’ Winston cigarettes as a teenager and kept it up for decades and claimed that Reynolds engaged in misleading marketing campaigns designed to minimize the perceived risk of smoking.
According to CVN reports, the defense attorney argued that the victim chose not to smoke “allegedly safer cigarette designs” or electronic cigarettes because she didn’t like the taste of those products.
The majority of smoking-related lawsuits had been contested in Florida as part of Engle progeny actions.
In a similar incident on February 27, 2019, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Philip Morris USA Inc. were charged with $25 million in punitive damages and $12 million in compensatory damages for the widower because of her cigarette addiction that led to fatal lung cancer for her. It is just another case among the thousands of cigarette smoking lawsuits originating from the Engle class action against tobacco companies.
