Ex-Smoker Wins $300 Million From Philip Morris
A Florida jury awarded a woman $300 million in her fraud lawsuit against Philip Morris.
They found her only 10% at fault for choosing to start smoking when she was 20. Cindy Naugle, now 60, smoked for 25 years.
Fort Lauderdale’s Sun Sentinel has the full report here. 
Philip Morris said it will appeal, and was quite critical of the trial judge in its statement. “Today’s verdict was the result of numerous erroneous rulings by the trial judge that allowed the jury to hear extensive evidence totally unrelated to the individual smoker, Lucinda Naugle,” Murray Garnick, the general counsel of Philip Morris’s parent company, said. “We believe that the punitive damages award is grossly excessive and a clear violation of constitutional and state law.”
While these sorts of huge verdict and settlements seem like news out of the late 1990’s, big tobacco companies still face court battles relating to their advertising and allegedly undisclosed smoking risks.
By Erin Geiger Smith, Nov. 22, 2009
Businessinsider
