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NY Jury Awards $20 Million In Damages to Smoker's Family 

A Brooklyn jury Friday awarded $20 million in punitive damages to the widow of a man who died of lung cancer after smoking Lucky Strikes for 43 years.

Stephen Kottak, a spokesman for Brown & Williamson, the maker of Lucky Strikes, called the verdict "outrageous" and said the company was confident it would be reversed upon appeal.

Supreme Court Justice Herbert Kramer's instructions to the jury failed to incorporate limits on punitive damages required by recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Mr. Kottak said.

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