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Jury adds to smoke penalty
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February 11, 1999: 6:01 a.m. ET
San Francisco panel adds $50 million punitive award to smoker judgment
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SAN FRANCISCO (CNNfn) - In a serious blow to the entire tobacco industry, a California jury late Wednesday ordered Philip Morris Cos. to pay a former smoker with inoperable cancer $50 million in punitive damages.
Tobacco stocks trading in overseas markets were already coming under pressure early Thursday as a result of the ruling.
The punitive award came a day after the jury decided the maker of Marlboro cigarettes was responsible for Patricia Henley's illness and awarded her $1.5 million in compensatory damages.
``I'm feeling numb. It was a great jury and it took a brave jury to make this decision,'' plaintiff Henley, 53, said after the San Francisco jury more than tripled the $15 million she had requested.
Philip Morris said it would appeal the decision.
"The punitive damage award of $50 million is so absurd and grossly disproportionate to the compensatory damage award of $1.5 million as to clearly show passion and prejudice on the part of the jury," said Gregory Little, Associate General Counsel of Philip Morris.
"We will ask the court to set aside both damage awards. We do not believe they will survive on appeal," Little said.
A smoker since age 15 who smoked as many as three packs per day, Henley argued that she had become addicted to cigarettes long before tobacco companies began warning consumers about the health dangers of their products.
``By the time she really had an understanding of what was going on it was many years down the line and she was addicted,'' Henley's lead attorney Madelyn Chaber said.
Jury foreman George Loudis, a 47-year-old nonsmoker, said the jury was unanimous in feeling that Philip Morris should pay punitive damages, and that anger at the tobacco industry helped to drive the award so high.
``This jury really as a whole was very angry at the cigarette companies,'' Loudis said.
Industry analysts and legal experts have been closely watching Henley's case as an indicator of what might be in store for tobacco companies. Those companies still face class action and individual suits despite reaching a $206 billion legal settlement with U.S. states last November.
Tuesday's verdict was the first victory for a plaintiff since California repealed a 1987 law that banned suits by smokers on the basis that the risks of smoking were well known.
News of Tuesday's $1.5 million compensatory award -- which also topped the $975,000 Henley had asked for -- sent Philip Morris stock tumbling some 11.5 percent on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday. Stock analysts said more losses could be in the offing when the market opens Thursday.
-- from staff and wire reports
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Philip Morris
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