|
Contact: Edward L. Sweda or
May 23, 2003
$19 Million
Verdict Against Brown & Williamson in Arkansas Wrongful Death
Background and Commentary on the Trial Verdict
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS WESTERN DIVISION
HENRY W. BOERNER, Individually PLAINTIFF v.
BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO COMPANY No. LR-C_98-427
Today, a jury in Federal District Court court in Little Rock, Arkansas issued a verdict finding Brown & Williamson Corporation, Inc. liable for the lung cancer death Mary Jane Boerner. Boerner was 69 when she died. She had smoked Lucky Strikes then Pall Malls for 36 years when she quit in 1981. The lawsuit was filed on June 19, 1998 and was re-filed as wrongful death by Ms Boener's her husband, Henry after her death in 1999. The complaint alleged that Brown & Williamson's predecessor, American Tobacco Co., which manufactured Lucky Strikes and Pall Malls, caused his wife to become addicted to cigarettes and led to lung cancer and emphysema. The complaint asserted that Mary Boerner was addicted to cigarettes by 1948, just three years after she began smoking at age 15. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1996. On February 25, 2000, a Federal Court Judge in Little Rock, Arkansas, entered judgment in favor of Brown & Williamson. The Judge found the evidence undisputed that Mrs. Boerner read the 1966 warnings that appeared on cigarette packages and also received information from her husband and son about the hazards of smoking on a regular basis. Despite those warnings, she did not stop smoking. The Court found that the evidence was undisputed that Mrs. Boerner would not have heeded any additional warnings even if they were present. But on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the District Court's ruling was reversed on August 6, 2001 and the the case was remanded to the trial court. In an opinion written by Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Roger Wollman of Sioux Falls, S.D., the appellate panel said the trial judge should have allowed jurors to decide two issues: one pertaining to allegedly inadequate warning claims about health problems issued by the tobacco company before 1969, and the other alleging that the cigarettes were defectively designed, rendering them unreasonably dangerous. The trial took about a month and after 3 days of deliberations the jury returned with its verdict jury for a total of $19 million -- $500,000 to Henry Boerner for loss of consortium and $1 million for mental anguish; $25,000 to the couple's son son for mental anguish; $2.5 million to the estate; and $15 million in punitive damages. Edward Sweda, Senior Attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University noted: "This is the second federal court to punish a tobacco company with a $15 million punitive damages award in the past year. Such awards are only issued in cases where the defendant exhibits extremely reprehensible behavior." Mark Gottlieb, also an attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project observed that, "while one court decertified a class action in Florida two days ago, individual cases are continuing to be filed and tried at a record rate. Regardless of what happens in class action litigation, tobacco companies still face a death by a thousand cuts in individual cases such as the Boerner case."
-- ## -- |