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• R.J. Reynolds ordered to pay smoker's son $500,000 

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. (NYSE:RTR), parent of the No. 2 U.S. tobacco firm, said on Thursday it has been ordered by a jury in Puerto Rico to pay $500,000 to the 23-year-old son of a late smoker, an award which it is opposing.

"The evidence presented in this case does not support the verdict against us," Seth Moskowitz, an R.J. Reynolds spokesman, said. He said the ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed two years ago by two sons of a late Puerto Rican man who smoked.

The jury had initially ordered Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based R.J. Reynolds to pay $500,000 to each of the sons, but a judge overturned the portion accorded to the other son, aged 30.

"The judge determined that there were statutes of limitations," Moskowitz told Reuters. He said the company has asked the judge to overturn the remaining order, failing which it would lodge an appeal. . . Moskowitz claimed that an autopsy had not been conducted on the father.

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