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Tobacco companies in US to pay smoker $22m (£13.8m)

Deborah Josefson , San Francisco

A California jury has ordered two major tobacco companies to pay a dying former smoker $20m (£12.5m) in punitive damages. The same jury had previously awarded the plaintiff $1.7m in compensatory damages. The decision marks the first time that tobacco companies have been ordered to compensate an individual who began smoking after the Surgeon General's warnings appeared on cigarette packets. The San Francisco Superior Court found that the Philip Morris Company and RJ Reynolds Tobacco Holdings were each partially responsible for the terminal metastatic lung cancer of Leslie Whiteley, a 40 year old mother of four. She started smoking in 1972 at age 13 and continued to do so for the next 25 years. In 1965, the Surgeon General warned the public about the dangers of smoking, and in 1969 health warnings became mandatory on cigarette packets. The tobacco companies argued that Ms Whiteley was to blame for her cancer since she ignored health warnings on cigarette packets, continued to smoke during pregnancy, and further injured her lungs by smoking marijuana as well. The jury found that the tobacco companies acted with malice and fraud and deliberately misled the public about smoking hazards even as they complied with mandatory labelling of packets. The decision dismantled a key defence used by the tobacco industry and opens the cigarette companies to further lawsuits. Previously, it had been believed that warning labels on cigarettes protected manufacturers against lawsuits brought by people who took up smoking after they had appeared. Commenting on the case, John Sorrells, a spokesman for Phillip Morris, said that the tobacco industry remained convinced that the warnings should protect the company from awards like those given to Ms Whiteley. "We still don't believe that someone who starts smoking after the warnings went on cartons should be entitled to damages," he said. Although substantial the award was less than the $115m requested by the plaintiff. Jury foreman Michael Criscola said that the jury was punishing the companies largely because they knew about the hazards of smoking but hid them for 50 years. William Ohlemeyer, lawyer for Philip Morris, indicated that the decision was improper because the companies have made profound changes in the manner in which they do business. The companies have already reached a settlement worth $206bn with 46 states; this settlement was reached in 1998. The companies plan to appeal against the verdict.    

(Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS/AP ) Lung cancer patient Lesley Whiteley, aged 40, who was awarded punitive damages