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• Philip Morris to Appeal N.Y. Smoker Award 

A New York jury ordered Philip Morris USA to pay $17.1 million in punitive damages to a lung cancer patient, who claims the cigarette maker failed to warn her about the dangers of smoking.

The award Monday came one week after the same jury at the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan ordered Altria Group Inc.'s (MO) Philip Morris USA unit and American Tobacco, which is now a unit of Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), to pay $3.42 million in compensatory damages to Norma Rose, a 72-year old woman who began smoking as a teenager, and her husband Leonard. The compensatory award was split equally between the two companies.

"Philip Morris USA will appeal this decision and believes the judgment should be overturned based on the facts presented at trial and the novel legal theory asserted in the case," said William Ohlemeyer, Philip Morris USA vice president and associated general counsel, in a written statement.

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