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A groundbreaking tobacco case flamed out last week when a jury awarded the children of a now-deceased smoker $1.5 million -- $20.5 million less than a previous verdict overturned on appeal.
"The jury apparently felt that R.J. Reynolds didn't need to be deterred," said a disappointed Greg Leyh, an attorney for the children.
In February 2005, a Jackson County jury awarded the family of Barbara Smith $2 million in compensatory damages (which was later reduced to $500,000 because Smith was determined to be 75 percent at fault) and $20 million in punitive damages -- the largest punitive award ever in a Missouri smoking case.
The verdict was against Brown & Williamson, which was later acquired by Reynolds. Brown & Williamson made Kool cigarettes, which Smith smoked for nearly 50 years. She died of a heart attack in May 2000 at the age of 73.
Brown & Williamson appealed the verdict, and the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City two years ago ordered the case retried on the issue of punitive damages only. The court ruled that evidence of Brown & Williamson's wrongful conduct was sufficient to submit to a jury. . . .
The jury two weeks ago found that Brown & Williamson knowingly sold a dangerous and defective product. It then proceeded to a second phase to determine punitive damages.
McClain asked jurors to award $110 million "to send a message." That amount represented about a quarter of the $442 million in dividends Brown & Williamson received from its parent company last year and about the same amount Reynolds' top five executives made in the last five years.
The jury, however, came back with $1.5 million, a fraction of what McClain sought. Leyh said that he spoke to two of the jurors after the trial and got the sense "that since Brown & Williamson doesn't make cigarettes anymore, they didn't feel there was a need to deter them."
Both sides said they plan to appeal.
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INDEPENDENCE * Jury selection was scheduled to begin Monday for a new trial on the $20 million awarded from a tobacco company to an Independence man whose wife died of heart disease.
A Jackson County jury in 2005 awarded Lincoln Smith $20 million in punitive damages from Brown & Williamson for the 2000 death of his wife, Barbara. The company is now part of North Carolina-based Reynolds American Inc.
The Missouri appeals court sent the case back for a new trial on the punitive damages after finding that of three claims made, only one had been submissible.
The Missouri Court of Appeals on Tuesday re-adopted its decision in a landmark tobacco case after the Missouri Supreme Court returned the case to the appeals court in July.
In August 2007, the appeals court found evidence of intentional wrongdoing by tobacco company Brown & Williamson but ordered the case retried on the issue of punitive damages.
The case was brought by the family of Barbara Smith, who had smoked Kool cigarettes for nearly 50 years and died of a heart attack in May 2000 at the age of 73.
In February 2005, a Jackson County jury awarded the family $2 million in compensatory damages, which was later reduced to $500,000, and $20 million in punitive damages -- the largest punitive award in a Missouri smoking case.
-A jury erred in awarding a $20 million judgment against cigarette maker Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., the Missouri Supreme Court has signaled by remanding the case back to a lower court.
The judgment was overturned by a state appeals court in August 2007. The appeals court found that the award was excessive. The appeals court remanded the case back to a Jackson County judge for a new decision on punitive damages.
But the state's highest court sent the case Thursday back to the three-member appeals court without explanation . . .
Among other things, attorneys for Brown & Williamson argue the punitive damages awarded by the jury were excessive because they were 40 times greater than the compensatory award.
The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a wrongful-death case involving the Brown & Williamson tobacco company and a Jackson County family who won a $20 million verdict.
A Jackson County jury in 2005 awarded Lincoln Smith $20 million to punish the company, plus $2 million for injuries, after his wife, Barbara Smith, died of a heart attack at 73 in 2000.
The $2 million was cut down to $500,000 after the jury decided that Barbara Smith was 75 percent responsible. She had smoked Kool cigarettes for nearly 50 years.
The case was sent to the Supreme Court after an appeals court ruling last summer in which a three-judge panel found evidence of wrongdoing by the company, but ordered a new trial to reconsider punitive damages.
10) Sufficient evidence was presented that a tobacco company's act of manufacturing or selling defective or unreasonably dangerous cigarettes was tantamount to intentional wrongdoing where the evidence demonstrated that the tobacco company: had an active process of creating controversy regarding the health risks of smoking; planned to dispute every Surgeon General's Report, regardless of its basis; had policies of preventing harmful information from becoming available to the public; and established procedures to ensure negative information did not reach the public.
Dissenting Summary by Judge Smart: The dissent argues that the majority wrongly interprets the wrongful death statute and that the plain wording of the statutory language creates a condition for the filing of a wrongful death action by the survivors of a tort victim. In this case, that condition is not fulfilled because the decedent, having already resolved her tort claim, would be precluded from bringing another suit against B&W.
The dissent also argues that Smith fails to make a submissible case as to causation on the failure to warn claim, because the evidence showed that no warning would have been effective. The dissent also argues that there was no basis for applying a presumption that a warning would have been heeded.
10) Sufficient evidence was presented that a tobacco company's act of manufacturing or selling defective or unreasonably dangerous cigarettes was tantamount to intentional wrongdoing where the evidence demonstrated that the tobacco company: had an active process of creating controversy regarding the health risks of smoking; planned to dispute every Surgeon General's Report, regardless of its basis; had policies of preventing harmful information from becoming available to the public; and established procedures to ensure negative information did not reach the public. Majority Opinion in the Smith appeal.
In a groundbreaking decision Tuesday, a Missouri appeals court found evidence of intentional wrongdoing by a tobacco company but ordered the case retried on the issue of punitive damages.
In setting aside a $20 million punitive verdict -- the largest ever awarded in Missouri in a smoking case -- a three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City nonetheless found that evidence of Brown & Williamson's wrongful conduct was sufficient to submit to a jury.
The lengthy opinion written by Judge Robert G. Ulrich noted that Brown & Williamson "had an active process of creating controversy regarding the health risks of smoking and planned to dispute every surgeon general's report, regardless of what it was based upon."
"Further," Ulrich wrote, "B&W had policies of preventing harmful information from becoming available to the public and established procedures to ensure negative information did not reach the public." . . .
The decision was noteworthy in two respects. First, the court found evidence of deliberate wrongdoing by a tobacco company. And second, the court ruled for the first time that the surviving families of tort victims can sue even if the victims had previously brought suit themselves.
Even so, the court sent the case back for a new trial on punitive damages because the basis of the jury's award was unclear.
Whether that will actually occur is somewhat uncertain because Judge James M. Smart dissented from Ulrich's opinion and exercised his prerogative to transfer the case to the Missouri Supreme Court. . . .
Although the appeals court found insufficient evidence of intentional wrongdoing sufficient to warrant punitive damages on the first two claims, it found sufficient evidence to do so on the defective product claim. But because all three claims were submitted to the jury on a single form, which made it impossible for the appeals court to determine the basis of the punitive award, it sent the case back to the jury to retry the last claim alone.
[Brown & Williamson] had an active process of creating controversy regarding the health risks of smoking and planned to dispute every surgeon general's report, regardless of what it was based upon. Further, B&W had policies of preventing harmful information from becoming available to the public and established procedures to ensure negative information did not reach the public.Missouri Court of Appeals Judge Robert G. Ulrich, in the majority opinion in the Smith case.
Gov. Matt Blunt on Thursday criticized a $20 million judgment against a tobacco company as an "egregious" example of a court system in need of reform.
Blunt's comments came a day after a Jackson County jury awarded the punitive damages to the family of deceased smoker Barbara Smith, of Lee's Summit.
Jurors also awarded $2 million in actual damages, but Smith's family will get just $500,000 of that because the jury found Smith 75 percent at fault and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. -- the makers of Kool cigarettes -- 25 percent at fault.
Blunt, a Republican, has called for caps on punitive damages as part of his legislative package. . . .
Rep. Richard Byrd, R-Kirkwood and the chief sponsor of the "tort reform" legislation, called Smith's case a prime example of what he is trying to stop. . . . .
The family's attorney, Ken McClain, argued during the trial that cigarette makers must be held accountable . . . .
"I would be surprised if, on reflection, Republican lawmakers want to side with tobacco companies that kill people for a living," said McClain, adding: "One of the problems you have is that people are driving the debate for political gain as opposed to merit." . . .
Sen. Delbert Scott, R-Lowry City and the chief Senate sponsor of the bill, said he included the punitive damages cap in this year's version primarily at Byrd's initiative. But Scott said he might support an exception to the cap in some types of cases -- perhaps in tobacco lawsuits.
A jury has awarded the family of a woman who smoked for nearly 50 years more than $20 million in a wrongful death lawsuit against the maker of Kool cigarettes, the largest total judgment against a tobacco company in Missouri.
The Jackson County jury awarded the family of Barbara Smith, of Lee's Summit, $20 million in punitive damages on Wednesday, a day after ordering $2 million in actual damages.
The family will get only $500,000 of the $2 million in actual damages because the jury found Smith to be 75 percent at fault and Brown & Williamson to be 25 percent at fault. . . .
Edward L. Sweda Jr., an attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project, said the award was the fifth largest of 14 judgments nationwide against tobacco companies.
"The problem for Brown & Williamson is that there are potentially millions of plaintiffs down the road," Sweda said. . . .
The plaintiffs' star witness was Jeffrey Wigand, a former vice president of research and development for Brown & Williamson. His complaints against tobacco companies eventually led to huge settlements with all states to recoup health costs.
Wigand, who has a doctorate in biochemistry, testified that he was sent to a law firm when he was hired by Brown & Williamson.
"We were not to admit nicotine was addictive," Wigand said. "It was contradictory to what I knew. I didn't think lawyers would ever teach me science."
A Jackson County jury today awarded a Lee's Summit family $20 million in punitive damages against the maker of Kool cigarettes.
The family of Barbara Smith sued Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation in a wrongful-death lawsuit, alleging the company hid the adverse health effects of cigarettes. Smith had smoked Kool cigarettes for nearly 50 years before dying of a heart attack in 2000.
Brown & Williamson said the risks of cigarettes were well known. Moreover, Smith died 10 years after she quit smoking.
Jeffrey Wigand, renowned whistle-blower on the tobacco industry, completed his testimony Wednesday afternoon in an ongoing wrongful death lawsuit against Brown and Williamson. Brown and Williamson is the third largest U.S. cigarette maker.
Kenneth McClain, Independence attorney, called Wigand Monday as a witness for the defense. McClain is representing the family of Barbara Smith, a former smoker who died of a heart attack in 2000. Smith smoked Kool cigarettes, a product of Brown and Williamson tobacco company, for more than 50 years. She also suffered from lung cancer and emphysema prior to her death.
Wigand testified that Brown and Williamson denied cigarettes are addictive and harmful when, according to Wigand, the company had internal documents saying otherwise. Wigand said the mantra of company executive T.S. Sandefur was, "We're in the nicotine delivery business and tar is the negative excess baggage." Another slogan Wigand said Sandefur often repeated was, "Hook 'em young and hook 'em for life."