Tobacco Titans to Testify on Industry Changes

Hoping to dissuade a Florida jury from punishing their companies, titans of the tobacco industry will testify this week to highlight “enormous changes” made in their industry in recent years. The jurors in Miami are scheduled to hear testimony today from Philip Morris Cos. CEO Michael Szymanczyk, the first of five tobacco company executives expected to testify about a potential multibillion-dollar punitive damages request by 300,000 to 500,000 sick Florida smokers. The six-member jury previously awarded $12.7 million in compensatory damages to three people in the nation’s first smokers’ class-action suit to go to trial. They now must determine punitive damages. The expected appearance of the CEOs before the jury demonstrates the importance of the case to the industry. Tobacco executives make infrequent public appearances and rarely testify under oath. Smokers’ witnesses estimated the companies could raise $150 billion to $157 billion to pay a punitive verdict. The nation’s five biggest cigarette makers don’t want the jury to consider anything beyond their present value.