Florida Tobacco Lawsuit Results in $8 Million Verdict for Family of Smoker

A Florida jury awarded $8 million in damages to the family of a chain smoker who died from lung cancer in 1997. This is the first of thousands of Florida tobacco lawsuits to go to trial since the state Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that each case brought by a smoker or their family against the tobacco industry must be decided individually.

The case involved a lawsuit filed by the 63 year old widow of Stuart Hess, who died when he was 55, after smoking Phillip Morris cigarettes since he was 15 years old.

The verdict was returned yesterday after a two and a half week trial in Fort Lauderdale. The jury awarded $3 million for compensatory damages to the wife and son, as well as $5 million in punitive damages, against Phillip Morris USA, a unit of Altria Group, Inc.

The jury found that Hess was 58% responsible his cigarette addiction, so the compensatory award may be reduced to $1.3 million. Phillip Morris has also indicated that they will appeal the award of punitive damages.

The case stems from a 2000 award of $145 billion in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of an estimated 700,000 smokers. However, in 2006, the Florida Supreme Court overruled the verdict and ordered that every smokers’ lawsuit must be decided by a jury on its individual merits.

The appeals court allowed the class action trial’s findings that the dangers of cigarettes were known by the tobacco companies and kept from the public, to stand as long as the smoker or their family filed a tobacco lawsuit by January 11, 2008.

There are currently 8,000 similar Florida lawsuits that are still pending throughout the state, with the next trial scheduled to begin in Broward County today.