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RJ Reynolds Fined $23.6 Billion

RJ Reynolds has been ordered by a Florida jury this Friday to pay a total of $23.6 billion to the widow of a chain-smoker that had filed a suit against the company. It’s possibly the largest single plaintiff payout in history for a tobacco manufacturer to date.
Cynthia Robinson of Pensacola began the long process of suing the company in 2008. Her husband had died in 1996 of lung cancer after smoking between two and three packets of cigarettes per day for 18 years. It was claimed that her husband had become addicted to cigarettes and despite attempts had failed to manage to quit. She claimed that RJ Reynolds had conspired to conceal the addictive nature of cigarettes and had failed to highlight the dangers of smoking. Robinson’s lawyers also accused RJ Reynolds of being negligent in informing customers of the dangers pf the consumption of tobacco.
• The jury deliberated for 11 hours on Friday 18th July 2014 and the verdict returned granted compensation of $7.3 million to the plaintiff as well as $9.6 million to her husband’s child from a previous marriage.
• The jury went on to deliberate for a further 7 hours before it then awarded Robinson the punitive sum of$23.6 billion.
• Robinson’s lawyer stated: “RJ Reynolds took a calculated risk by manufacturing cigarettes and selling them to consumers without properly informing them of the hazards”.
• RJ Reynolds issued a statement calling the verdict “far beyond the realm of reasonableness and fairness”.
• The company also stated that the company is “confident that the court will follow the law and not allow this runaway verdict to stand," adding that the damages were "grossly excessive and impermissible under state and constitutional law”.
• In the USA today there are still half a million people that die from cigarette-related illnesses every year.
• But, only 18% of US citizens actually smoke these days, which is a huge drop from the 42% of the 1960s.
Robinson argued that the verdict was not as RJ Reynolds states “a runaway verdict” but rather that the jury was courageous to take the decision. The jury refused to accept the argument used by RJ Reynolds that the victim had in fact smoked out of choice rather than addiction.
Originally Robinson had filed a lawsuit against the company as part of a class-action litigation that opened in1994 against tobacco firms. It became known as the “Engle Case”. At the time the verdict given in 2000 was also in favor of the plaintiffs and they were awarded $145 billion in punitive damages. But, it was overturned in2006 when the Florida Supreme Court decided that each of the plaintiffs involved in the class-action litigation had in fact smoked for very personal, individual and different reasons. They were told that they could file lawsuits individually, which is what Robinson did. What was upheld by the Florida court was that the jury’s findings that cigarettes and tobacco in general lead to diseases and that they are defective as well as labelling tobacco companies as negligent. These issues are now standing and they do not need to be re-litigated in any future lawsuit that takes place. The Supreme Court in Florida also refused just a few weeks ago the request by RJ Reynolds (amongst others) to hear their appeals regarding other court judgments in Florida which come to a total of $70 million.
Just a few days ago RJ Reynolds announced the decision to take over Lorillard in order to conquer the electronic cigarette market and hopefully compensate the falling sales in the industry. The US tobacco industry is worth an estimated $120.7 billion (2013) in sales according to research carried out by Euromonitor.
It was just 50 years ago that the US Department of Health first published a report recognizing that tobacco could cause cancer. Since that date, 13 different types of cancer as well as other illness have been recognized as having a link with the substance.
RJ Reynolds manufactures Camel, Kool and Pall Mall cigarettes amongst others. The tobacco company founded in 1875 is the 2nd largest in the USA and it holds 33% of the tobacco market. For the first quarter of2014 it posted net sales to the value of $1, 563 million, with an operating income of $482 million.
Originally posted: RJ Reynolds Fined $23.6 Billion

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definately they should nationalize all tobacco companies and liquidate them for good.
im not being sarcastic and im a smoker. and Frack You blind liberals, trolls and the paid to be a bastard kind.
The judge will quash the jury's amount.
Florida has "Tort Reform" which limits compensation. This is a non-issue headline.
In 1978, when this guy had started smoking, you couldn't turn on the TV for more than a few minutes without a PSA warning you smoking would give you cancer. That government report mentioned in the article was published in the year of my birth, thus I cannot remember an era when I wasn't warned every day of the dangers of smoking. The last US TV ad in favor of smoking was broadcast late at night (during Carson) on January 1, 1971. I have zero sympathy for someone who took up smoking long after the statistical connection between cancer rates and smoking was well established. The actual mechanism wasn't well understood then but it was blatantly obvious it was not a healthy activity.
So many comments missed the point! The companies purposely and intentionally lied about the nature and dangers of their product, and thereby caused tens if not hundreds of millions of deaths, and immeasurable pain and suffering. If they had not understood what they were doing, the appropriate response would be very different (perhaps zero liability). That's a plain fact, and they deserve to be crushed for that fact.
As a completely separate matter, a great many people do have a very difficult time extracting themselves from addictions. One could reasonably defend them on that basis. One could also reasonably blame them for not quitting given the severity of dangers and consequences (at some point in history, as the degree of harm caused by cigarettes became more certain).
But my second paragraph doesn't change what I said in my first paragraph. These scumbags purposely and knowingly killed endless millions of humans, and caused immeasurable harm by purposely lying about their products. Those companies should be shut down, and the executives hung for mass murder and crimes against humanity.
Think about what I said. If they had not known what their products did, they would not be liable for anything. But they did. They purposely murdered more people than die in world wars. Who can forgive that?
Disclaimer: I decided by age 8 to never smoke or drink. And I never did. So I haven't suffered harm from their products personally (outside the very tiny chance second hand smoke from yesteryear might harm me someday). But that doesn't change the facts.
Honestann, on every point but one you are correct.
Where you are probably incorrect is stating that there is a very tiny chance that second hand smoke might harm you someday. A smoker has a one in two chance of their life being shortened by smoking. A non smoker has a one in thirty chance of their life being shortened by second handsmoking.( There isalso third hand smoking, that is where smoke settles and you then consume it, most at risk are babies who put their hands all over surfaces and then suck on their hands.)
It would be only a very tiny chance only if you lived and worked in a community that didn't have many smokers (perhaps a monastary or a community of practicing Methodists or Seventh Day Adventists).
For some occupations the risk goes way up. For example many non smoking barmaids developed lung cancer or other illnesses after working for many years in smoky bars.That risk to workers (with workers compensation payouts and higher worker insurance premiums) is why many Western nations now ban smoking in the workplace.
So now that smoking is declining in the West they are peddling their shit in the third world. You can find bars there where you can cut the blue haze with a knife and your clothes will reek of smoke.
a court fining a big tabacco multinational... can only be a court backed by a very powerful state-like setup. in fact, only in the US such a verdict is even imaginable
and this is the point where I'm laughing: aren't you usually arguing that no state whatsoever is in any way necessary? that it's all both a tiranny and an illusion?
yet I find you here arguing that this verdict is justified. though if a foreign country would ban or restrict the import of dangerous products, I'd probably find you on a different barricade, wouldn't I?
would any court without this kind of power-backing even attempt to make such a verdict? without even getting in the merit of having a chance at enforcing it? let's say a court on the Pacific Island of Kiribati? particularly a voluntaryst court that is not even related to the state of Kiribati?
honestann, I'm sorry, but your thirst for justice seems here to be backing power over individuals and groups like corporations. I find it puzzling. where is the freedom of the individual, here? what happened to your (paraphrased) "all groups, including states, nations, etc. are all illusions, a sickness of the mind"?
a case of cognitive dissonance?
I never said government should exist. Where did I say that? If I did, I misspoke.
What I said, I believe, is that mass murderers should be executed... preferably by their victims and surviving family and friends.
And any funds they earned should be recaptured if possible.
Not by governments... by their victims.
When did I ever give you the idea that I believe individuals who murder others should not be killed? You must have a strange notion of "the individual" if you think I believe all individuals should be left alone, including when they are [slowly] murdering you, and including when they harm you egregiously, and when they do the same to your friends and family.
All individuals are free to live their life as they please, as long as they do not [intentionally] harm others. They did intentionally harm others... hundreds of millions of them. Thus they are predators, and deserve to be treated as predators of all species... elimination.
PS: You see what happens when individuals leave self-defense to fictions and "official predators"... their fellow predators killing endless innocents let them live and profit.
NOTE: If the individuals selling a product clearly reveal every danger they know their product may present, they are not liable for harm caused by voluntary consumption or application of their product. That's not what happened here.
honestann, the bad 'bacco companies who stuff their products full ov additives and bleed people dry to their deaths are a curse upon this species. The only 'safe' way to enjoy tobacco is through rolling a (homegrown/organic) tobacco or rice/flax paper base with homegrown ( 'organic' ) tobacco. Currently the only mass-produced option available is American Spirit's organic blend pouch with flax papers. See my post up above for a video of an addict telling you the difference.
I wanted to smoke since I was six or seven. Did for three years in my 20s. Good enough for me. A token smoke once in a while is good business. We're all gonna die of horrible radiative or tyrannical causes anyway.
But there are certain endeavors that require non-smoking, like breaking the 5 minute mile barrier. I have forever been stuck at 5-flat. ;-)
Skate.... smoking a pipe is also a much safer way to enjoy tobacco. The best pipe tobacco blends contain nothing but tobacco. No additives. Smoked properly (not inhaled) and moderately (a pipe or two a day) and the relaxing and contemplative benfits balance the risks IMO.
Idiots.....this should never have even been allowed in the back door. However that is what 40 years of of malpractice law suits do. Too many lawyers with nothing better to do who will take the case. As most people say here, "when you become addicted it is YOUR own actions". People do all sorts of things that are not good for them. They know it, and they do it anyway. Don't like porn. Don't watch it. Don't want to drink. Then don't. Want to eat hamburgers everyday and hope that you don't have a heart attack...well...do it. Want to exercise daily and eat healthy so that you up the odds that you might (and that is all it is a probability) live longer, do it. Want to snort cocaine all day and pray that your heart doesn't fail over time (ask Whitney about that one) go ahead.
it never ceases to amaze me the lengths people will go to to blame someone or something else for their own actions. That is why most still love the amby pamby government that we all have now.
Hang on, she started litigating in 1994 when her husband died in 1996?
between now and appeals, a settlement will get struck
The govt bans cocaine herione, why didn't it ban cigarettes since it is a known killer?
The woman should have been suing the govt for allowing the supply of dangerous addictuve drugs without prescription. That the govt allows it is tacit approval to business to deal in it.
The government subsidizes tobacco so, yea, sue them too. And for the government $23.6 billion is nothing so it would have been a no big deal.
R.I.P. Personal Responsibility.
These sorts of verdicts are proof that the sheep lack an understanding or appreciation of, personal liberty.
chemical addiction is a substantive mitigating factor in issues of personal responsibility
I'm happy they were fined $26Billion - but to one family? This risks further injustice - when others come forward for compensation but find the tobacco company bankrupted
the courts in America are bloody minded and idiotic
Unless I missed it, no one mentioned that 40% of the verdict goes to the attorneys. Who are these jurors, their backgrounds should be published. It has to be one of the best jobs of juror selection by the defense and the most incometent by the prosecution. In fact, forget the jurors, I'd love to see the background of the prosecution team.
RJR will never pay anything. Every time a verdict is appealed the amount of the award goes down. The higher you go in our court system, the more business friendly the verdict is.
He was forced to smoke cigarettes? Prove it. What happened to free will?
And while I'm at it I'm suing the stoopid assbag jury of this trial for being so proposterous. And then I'm suing the woman for general asshatery.
Let's hope that the jury picked this amount just because they want to show the lunacy of these lawsuits. Otherwise all the US tobacco companies will shut their doors, create new companies overseas where they will get some protection, license back the product names, and all cigarettes will be made in China.
what a fucked up jury. he decided to smoke just as this country lets these politicians and the fed steal. what's next juries will award 25 billion for the guy that got crabs from a hooker.
Addictions are meant to be beaten. It's still a choice to remain addicted what dolts. I quit at 25 cold turkey and I was at a pack and a half a day. I had tried several other times but never really stuck to the cold-turkey, I would always try to taper off. Just quit and fight the urge, it took 5 years to quit thinking about it from time to time. It's been 33 years since I quit and after 10 years it was like I never started. The jury is a bunch of dimwits.
Addictions are meant to be beaten. It's still a choice to remain addicted what dolts. I quit at 25 cold turkey and I was at a pack and a half a day. I had tried several other times but never really stuck to the cold-turkey, I would always try to taper off. Just quit and fight the urge, it took 5 years to quit thinking about it from time to time. It's been 33 years since I quit and after 10 years it was like I never started. The jury is a bunch of dimwits.
Addictions are meant to be beaten. It's still a choice to remain addicted what dolts. I quit at 25 cold turkey and I was at a pack and a half a day. I had tried several other times but never really stuck to the cold-turkey, I would always try to taper off. Just quit and fight the urge, it took 5 years to quit thinking about it from time to time. It's been 33 years since I quit and after 10 years it was like I never started. The jury is a bunch of dimwits.
I thought the tobacco companies were already sued for this, coughed up (sorry) billions of dollars to the states and feds to cover the cost of medical treatments and advertising to quit smoking, and everything was grand. Do you mean that all of the money got spent and people are still dieing from smoking? I'm shocked, shocked to find out that suing for damages didn't solve anything. Here we go again ....
Our courts are a joke.
beyond a sick joke isn't it ...the Legal system is just robbing companies
there's 0.00 scientific evidence smoking causes cancer ...in fact smokers suffer less ailments than non-smokers ...as do their children ..it's marginal but that's all the research shows.. nothing pointing toward smoking as a serious lifetime danger
the judges have proved scientific morons on the smoking issue ..yet another monopoly insitutition that's not a clue what it's doing
Zero Govt,you forgot the /sarc tag.
But for those of you too lazy to read the scientific journals about how sickening smoking is just go read the insurance companies actuary tables or tables of premiums. There is no way in hell that those tight fisted bastards would give a discount to attract non smokers as customers if their bean counters said non smokers will get sick more often and cost profits.
There are insurance companies that give pipe and cigar smokers the same rates as non-smokers.
Wonder what brand the dead dude smoked. Probably Pall Mall since he died so young.
i'll bet it was some 'lite' brand, full of chemical additives; or he had weak lungs, or there was some other environmental factor(s). another thing about all of this handwringing over tobacco and such, is the idea that people are too weak-willed to quit any drug.
On one hand....fuck the tobacco companies
On the other....fuck the legal system
Lastly, fuck this lady and her shite-lawyers
3 fucks don't make it right.....it's all wrongs.
If this man had only smoked a pipe................. there's a really good chance he'd still be alive.
Lucky lady. I'm surprised she wasn't found to have committed suicide by shooting herself with a nailgun.
In the head.
Five times.
haha, 23.6 billion because her moron husband decided to smoke and didn't have the will power to quit. I love it. Time people started suing alcohol companies if they become alcoholics and get health issues. After al they are "addicted"o it is the fault of the companies not the individual.
Just the latest example of what an embarrassment this world is.
This woman better not get more than 20 bucks for this bullshit when all is said and done. Why'd they stop at 23.6 billion? Just make it 50 or 100 billion.
Time people started suing soda companies for drinking soda and getting life threatening ailments.
Before you know it, the multi-million-dollar-salaried football players will sue the NFL for head injuries...ha ha ha......
oh, wait......
Concur. Why not $100 or $200 Billion? Why be constrained by the actual value of the company?
Why not just give free $$ to everyone who ever saw a cigarette commercial or add? What a boon to closing the income inequity gap that would be!
I am suing Big Alcohol, Big Pharma, Big Banks, Big Retail and the guy that built the stoopid shit house down the road...just because I fvcking want to. It's my duty as an American, or the terrorists will win. They hate our freedom, ya know.
If the jury had any balls they would have awarded 100 trillion trillion....ask Doctor Evil.
Actually by the time that family gets any dough even the 100 trillion trillion won't buy 3 eggs.
The should be a limit to jury awards and there should be a limit to how much the Fed can print.
The verdict is perverted. If they had any balls they would make cigs illegal. That is, it is undisputable that cigarette smoking causes cancer. Why the fuck would any regulatory body allow the sale of a pruduct that kills and causes great morbidity. Oh fuck you, it makes money for the government, The Pesident smokes, what a dumb fuck.
Why the fuck would government allow anyone to be born you stupid fuck?! Being born causes people to DIE!
Remain calm,as a libertarian I cannot agree that cigerettes should be made illegal. But a persons liberties only extend as far as not treading on someone elses liberties. You want to smoke 200 a day then go do it in the middle of your square mile property, but if you smoke near the boundary or on the street and your smoke impinges on the lungs of me and mine then we have a problem.
Well, why not have the government make donuts, Big Mac's, Liquor, Cotton Candy. porn, Snickers Bars, illegal too as they can all lead to obesity, alcoholism, sex addiction, ect ?
People have responsibility for your own damn actions and quit blaming others because you choose to act like a fucking retard. You can stick your head in a fireplace and determine that smoke is not good for you. This guy chose to smoke for many years, actions do have consequences.
Funny thing is now days everyone seems to be ok with people smoking dope, with that smoke being totally unfiltered has far greater cancer causing potential than cigarettes.
I don't care if you smoke cigarettes or weed, just don't blame everyone else when you catch some nasty shit and the die. Man the fuck up, you choose to smoke, you pay the consequences.
Smoker, 40+ years, now into COPD and heart problems. All self-inflicted.
Have tried to quit using various means including the newer drugs and patches. I'm addicted to nicotine and the ritutal of holding a cigarette.
My death will be self inflicted from cigarettes, and I've truely enjoyed each one. I hold RJReynolds blameless. They simply supplied me with a product I demanded on what used to be an open market.
However, the excessive tobacco taxes I've paid to the state and federal governments were NEVER directed to assisting my quitting. Yes, there were shaming commercials, but not one single program or drug that would help me kick my addiction. And California has methodone clinics.
Dude, hombre to hombre, I'm gonna tell you to switch to American Spirit rollies. I started with Marlboro Reds, switchd to American Spirit box cigs, then to the rollies. Go buy a red pouch of the organic blend. I don't smoke anymore, except I got drunk on the world cup futbol day and bought a pouch of that sweet 'bacco along with the cigar my friends and I were enjoying that evening. I've yet to roll up a smoke. Haven't done that since last October, but I fucking love a nice clean smoke: organic tobacco + flax or rice paper. I look forward to my next smoke, whenver that may be.
Hope you can keep your conditions from getting worse by switching, if you consider it all. I can understand if you can't switch.
This guy's real simple like, but it's a nice homemade video showing you the difference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp0W1Zqu8Q4
Pt 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDX5jXUHTXc
p.s. notice the difference in price. INFLATION!
"If they had any balls..." they would have demanded jail time.
i agree, jail time for the widow, the smoker (put his coffin in a cell!), and the damn lawyers.
stop harassing other people for the stupid decisions you made and take some damn responsibility for your choices.
Yes make heroine illigal, that will solve the problem.