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• Burton v. Reynolds Memo Supporting Punitive Damages 

Since the 1953 Frank Statement, over 15 million Americans have died prematurely because they smoked cigarettes. The majority of these premature deaths could have been avoided absent the misconduct of RJ Reynolds and the other cigarette manufacturers. Since RJR was the largest cigarette manufacturer during much of the period of misconduct, it bears a disproportionate share of the responsibility when compared to its current share of the cigarette market . . . It is worth considering how much better off the world at large, and Mr. Burton in particular, would have been had RJR acted responsibly and provided to its customers the caution about smoking's role in peripheral vascular disease . . .

During trial, Plaintiff produced over 100 documents and 16 witnesses illustrating Reynolds' knowledge that its cigarettes cause serious disease, addiction and premature death. Plaintiff also produced significant evidence of Reynolds' intentional concealment of that knowledge from the American public and government. As a direct result of Reynolds' misconduct, its profits increased to mammoth proportions more than $34 billion in toto since 1953 importantly, the same year Reynolds' scientists concluded that smoking causes serious harm to smokers and the year RJR and the tobacco industry initiated its fraudulent scheme. Based on Dr. Burns' estimate of the loss of American lives due to smoking, a punitive award of $100 million represents the payment of less than $7 for each of the approximately 15 million American lives lost since 1953. Reynolds' grievous misconduct resulted in enormous profits and, therefore, requires the assessment of substantial punitive damages. A punitive damage award of only $5 million - a single day of Reynolds' cigarette profits - would not adequately punish Reynolds for the human misery inflicted on society by its misconduct or deter it from future misconduct and further conduct causing loss of life.

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Can we have an open debate about smoking?  Over the years, you’ve heard so many negative reports about smoking and health — and so little to challenge these reports — that you may assume the case against smoking is closed.  But this is far from the truth.  Studies which conclude that smoking causes disease have regularly ignored significant evidence to the contrary.
1986 RJR ad. Some of the Burton evidence and transcripts are presented in the plaintiff's argument here.