Posted on 10/04/2002 12:18:00 PM PDT by GeneD
Filed at 2:51 p.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A jury awarded a record-shattering $28 billion in punitive damages Friday to a 64-year-old former smoker who sued Philip Morris Inc. for fraud and negligence.
The Superior Court jury awarded the amount to Betty Bullock, who started smoking when she was 17 and was diagnosed last year with lung cancer that has since spread to her liver.
Last month, the jury ordered the tobacco company to pay Bullock $750,000 in damages and $100,000 for pain and suffering.
Philip Morris said it would appeal.
``This jury should have focused on what the plaintiff knew about the health risks of smoking, and whether anything the company ever said or did improperly influenced her decision to smoke or not to quit,'' said William Ohlemeyer, the company's associate general counsel.
``Testimony during the trial showed that Ms. Bullock was aware of the health risks of smoking and was warned repeatedly of those risks by her doctors over four decades, and her daughter also urged her to quit. Her response: 'I am an adult, this is my business.'''
Before Friday, the biggest verdict won by an individual against a tobacco company was $3 billion, awarded in June 2001. Philip Morris was ordered to pay the amount to Richard Boeken, a former heroin addict with cancer who died in January. The verdict was later reduced by a judge to $100 million.
During Bullock's trial, Philip Morris did not try to defend its past actions. Instead, the company turned the spotlight on Bullock and her decision to smoke. The strategy was a major shift from previous defense efforts.
Bullock's lawyer, Michael Piuze, argued that Philip Morris concealed the dangers of cigarettes with a widespread disinformation campaign that began in the 1950s. He told jurors it was ``the largest fraud scheme ever perpetrated by corporations anywhere.''
Piuze used photographs of Bullock, cigarette ads from her teenage years and internal tobacco industry documents to lay out his contention that Philip Morris concealed the dangers of cigarettes.
The company denied any campaign to fool smokers.
Two years ago, a jury awarded thousands of Florida smokers $145 billion in punitive damages against Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson, Lorillard and Liggett. The award has been appealed.
``At this point, it's really open season on the industry,'' said Richard Daynard, a law professor at Northeastern University in Boston and chairman of the Tobacco Products Liability Project.
``Juries all around the country are sending a message that this conduct was not only totally inexcusable but that it was so outrageous there is no amount of money that would be enough to punish the people who perpetrated it,''
The California case also drew interest because it follows an Aug. 5 state Supreme Court ruling that grants cigarette makers a new window of immunity. The decision said most statements and acts by tobacco companies between 1988 and 1998 cannot be used as evidence against them because of a law, now repealed, shielding them from liability.
Some analysts think the ruling will give cigarette makers ammunition to overturn three recent plaintiff awards in California -- including the Boeken verdict, which was also won by Piuze.
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On the Net:
Philip Morris: http://www.philipmorris.com
You have got to be kidding!
Or Blindness.
They had a beaker with cotton in it. The stopper on top had two tube to facilitate air in and out. Smoke was blown into the cotton filled beaker to illustrate smoke staying in the lungs. Nasty stuff.
In view of this, the only explaination of the verdict is anti-capitalism. Put the "corporate profiteers" out of busines and, eventually, into "re-education camps". With all that has happened lately, this is as important a headline as any. Our way of life is threatened from within and from without. I live in Thailand a good portion of the year. Even with the socialist leanings of the government there, the lawyers have not gotten ahold of the purse-strings yet and lawsuites are limited to actual damages. The result, my visit to the doctor's office costs me $5 US vs. $65 US here in Oregon (it may be noted that my doctor there drives a Mercedes and lives in a 6 BR villa).
Sometimes lately it is hard to tell if the bigger crooks are in the boardroom or the courtroom. Probably the CEO's and CFO's know they only have a short time left to make a killing before the entire corporate structure collapses.
That jury better hope recto-cranial inversion doesn't cause cancer.
Of course, this verdict will be reduced on appeal, but still the lawyer will get millions, and the beat goes on.
I wrote about this in my seventh book. Use the second link below.
Congressman Billybob
Click for "Til Death Do Us Part."
But dont' worry, FRolks, the $28 Bil. verdict will be remitted [i.e. reduced drastically, if not totally thrown out.]
Now how do you know that?
Yes, smoking is bad for you, but people need to accept the consequences of their actions.
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