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ARTICLE ID 195226

$________ – PRODUCT LIABILITY – TOBACCO – COURT FINDS BIG TOBACCO 85 % LIABLE –WRONGFUL DEATH.

Broward County, FL

In this case, the wife of a man who died from lung cancer sued the makers of several brands of cigarettes. The case is one of the many "post-Engle" cases pending in the Florida court system.

The decedent, Paul Pollari, smoked for over 40 years until his death in ________ of lung cancer. The plaintiff asserted that the defendants, R.J.Reynolds and Philip Morris, concealed the hazardous and addictive nature of their products from the decedent, and that his cancer was caused by his smoking.

Rose P., wife of the deceased, filed suit in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court of Broward County, accusing the defendants, R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris, of failing to warn, as well as deliberately concealing the risks associated with their product. The plaintiff sought compensatory damages for wrongful death, as well as punitives. The defendant denied the accusation.The jury found for the plaintiff, concluding that the decedent had been addicted to nicotine, and relied on the defendants ‘concealment of smoking’s hazards, and that his cigarette smoking caused his cancer.

The jury assigned 42.5 % blame to each defendant, with the remaining 15 % assigned to the decedent himself. The jury awarded $________ in damages, including $________ in punitives.

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