TOBACCO: Smoker Wins $1.5 Million from Philip Morris
In the first judgement handed down against a tobacco company since "the repeal of a 1987 tort reform law that banned cigarette smokers' lawsuits on the basis that smoking's risks were well known," a San Francisco jury yesterday awarded a California woman $1.5 million. Patricia Henley sued Philip Morris for negligence, fraud and liability, alleging the company "failed to warn that smokers may be unable to quit," the Los Angeles Times reports (2/10). The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the "compensatory damages cover medical costs [and] pain and suffering," but that the jury will return today to "consider punitive damages" (2/10). Philip Morris said it "will have no further comment on the case or the verdict" until all proceedings are concluded (Times, 2/10).
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