Ex-smoker wins $10.5m from tobacco company
A woman with lung cancer is to be awarded the highest court-ordered payment yet to an ex-smoker after a last-ditch appeal was rejected.
Patricia Henley, of California, will receive the $10.5m (€8m) award, which has grown to more than €16m (€12.1m) with interest, from Philip Morris, the world’s largest cigarette maker.
The jury found the company had lied about the risks and addictive nature of smoking and was responsible for her cancer.
The payout was reduced from €51.5m (€39) after an appeals court concluded the jury had considered improper factors in awarding punitive damages.
But Philip Morris argued that a new trial should have been ordered, rather than a simple reduction of the award.
It claimed the lower courts also failed to consider the legal impact of a 2001 court ruling concerning tobacco advertising. But the appeal was rejected, setting the stage for the company to pay up, six years after it began fighting to overturn the judgment.
Ms Henley, 58, began smoking Philip Morris’ Marlboro cigarettes aged 15. For the next 28 years she smoked up to two packs a day. She was diagnosed with cancer in 1998.
William Ohlemeyer, a lawyer for the company, said: “We’re disappointed that the court didn’t take the case, but it won’t prevent us from successfully defending other cases.”
It is the fourth time the industry has been ordered to pay damages to an individual smoker, and the second time for Philip Morris.
Ms Henley plans to give most of the money to a foundation to warn children about the dangers of smoking and treat youngsters with breathing problems and cancer.
