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Philip Morris to appeal $2.1 mln smoker verdict 

Philip Morris USA said it would appeal a $2.1 million award by a Missouri jury on Tuesday to a sick smoker and his wife.

The unit of Altria Group Inc. (NYSE:MO) said that after one day of deliberation a Jackson County Circuit Court jury awarded nearly $1.6 million of compensatory damages to 53-year-old Michael Thompson on design defect and negligence claims. The jury paid another $500,000 to his wife.

It said the jury found that Philip Morris was 40 percent responsible for Thompson's illness, while British American Tobacco Plc.'s (London:BATS.L; AMEX:BTI) Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. unit was 10 percent responsible.

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