Ex-Smoker’s Award Reduced to $10.5 Million
A jury’s groundbreaking $26.5-million damage award to a former smoker with lung cancer has been reduced to $10.5 million by a state appellate court.
The ruling was overturned Thursday because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new limits on punitive damages.
In 1999, California resident Patricia Henley’s verdict against tobacco giant Philip Morris was the first under a state law allowing individuals to sue for newly discovered smoking-related illnesses.
Henley’s suit accused Philip Morris of hooking young people on cigarettes and concealing their dangers from the public.
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