Media Backgrounder: 

June 6, 2001  

Contact:  Richard A. Daynard
Edward L. Sweda, Jr. or
Mark A. Gottlieb
617-373-2026
media@tplp.org

Los Angeles Jury Issue Crushing $3 billion Verdict
Tobacco Companies Found Liable for Man's Lung Cancer in
Richard Boeken v. Philip Morris, Inc., et al.
Angry jury delivers $3 billion message to the tobacco industry

A jury in Los Angeles, California has has found that Philip Morris is liable for the lung cancer that will kill plaintiff Richard Boeken.  The jury awarded Mr. Boeken $5.54 million in compensatory and $3 billion in punitive damages.  It is the biggest verdict to date in an individual tobacco case. This is the 7th defeat for the tobacco industry over the last 23 jury verdicts on individual claims dating back to February of 1999. This means plaintiffs have achieved a 30% success rate on individual claims that have reached juries over the past 28 months. 

COMMENT:

Richard Daynard, a law professor and Chairman of the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University School of Law said of the verdict: "This is what happens when a jury tries to figure out how to punish an industry that kills 400,000 of its customers, and hooks another million new victims, each year."

Mark Gottlieb, an attorney with the Tobacco Products Liability Project and legal editor of the Tobacco Products Litigation Reporter noted that, "while many Wall Street analysts have discounted the importance of the thousands of pending individual cases, this Los Angeles jury has just demonstrated how our civil justice system can respond to the tobacco industry's lethal business practices.  $3 billion in an individual trial is clearly not just a routine cost of doing business."

Tobacco Products Liability Project's Senior Attorney Edward L. Sweda, Jr., noted, "this verdict is both just and proportionate to the enormous damage that Philip Morris has inflicted on Mr. Boeken and millions of the company's other customers."

CASE BACKGROUND

The plaintiff, Richard Boeken, was a self-employed securities broker from Topanga, California.  He began smoking at age 13 and is is now 56 years-old and gravely ill with cancer.   During his 40 years of 2 pack-a-day smoking, his brand was Philip Morris' Marlboro.  He quit smoking several times but resumed after those attempts at quitting failed.

In the fall of 1999, he was diagnosed with lung cancer.  The disease later spread to his lymph nodes, back and brain.  He has said that he got hooked on cigarettes as a boy in the 1950s, before any warning labels appeared on the packs.  Mr. Boeken sought compensatory damages (more than $12 million for medical bills, lost earnings and pain and suffering) as well as massive punitive damages (his attorney is asking for between $100 million and $10 billion). 

Mr. Boeken asserted 5 causes of action in his complaint: 1) negligence; 2) strict liability; 3) deceit/fraudulent concealment; 4) false representation and 5) breach of express warranty.  In addition, he alleged a conspiracy claim.  Philip Morris denied all the claims and contended that the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act preempted, in whole or in part, the plaintiff’s claims.  Philip Morris also claimed that Boeken “had long been aware of the potential health risks of smoking, which were common knowledge throughout the community before he started smoking” in 1957.  The trial took place in the Central Civil West Division of Superior Court, near downtown Los Angeles.

Richard Boeken was represented by Michael Piuze (tel. # 310-312-1102). Philip Morris is represented by Maurice A. Leiter and John L. Carlton of Arnold & Porter in Los Angeles.  The trial judge is the Hon. Charles W. McCoy, who is a member of the Superior Court’s complex case panel.