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"On September 26, 2002, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded Betty Bullock, a 63-year-old former Benson & Hedges and Marlboro smoker now suffering from lung cancer, $850,000 in compensatory damages. The same jury a week later assessed the defendant, Philip Morris, $28 billion in punitive damages. On December 18, trial judge Warren Ettinger denied Philip Morris' motion for a new trial, agreed that punitive damges were appropriate in this case, but lowered the amount of punitive damages from $28 billion to $28 million. Today, Mrs. Bullock decided to accept the $28 million award and to appeal Judge Ettinger's lowering of that amount to $28 million."
"We welcome her decision to appeal Judge Warren Ettinger's lowering of that award from the jury's $28 billion figure. The jury's assessment of $28 billion in punitive damages in October was fully justified given the enormity of Philip Morris' history of corporate wrongdoing for the past 50 years.
"Judge Ettinger was absolutely correct in denying Philip Morris' motion for a new trial; he specifically ruled that 'There is sufficient evidence on the record to support the jury's verdict on all of plaintiff's claims.'"
"Judge Ettinger ruled that 'the plaintiff called world famous experts who established that it had been known since the 1950s that cigarette smoke caused lung cancer; that nicotine was a highly addictive drug; and that executives of Philip Morris were aware of these facts.' Judge Ettinger further ruled that the plaintiff 'also proved that with this knowledge, Philip Morris constantly lied to its customers. Their executives continued on a course claiming there was "no certainty" that their product caused disease or was addictive. They made such claims to the public, to the Congress, and to the media. Plaintiff's evidence showed this was a tactic by Philip Morris to stall, while continuing to merchandise and sell their product. The jury was informed that cigarettes were even marketed by a sophisticated ad campaign that targeted children. Throughout this campaign the company denied its ads were aimed at children.'
"The stark reality is that the tobacco industry is facing six multi-million dollar verdicts against it on the West Coast [four in California and two in Oregon], along with one in Kansas and the $145 billion punitive damage award in the Engle case in Florida.
"Given that most verdicts are upheld on appeal and that these juries based their verdicts in large measure on evidence contained in enormously damaging internal industry documents, we expect that most if not all of these verdicts will ultimately withstand appellate review. We therefore look forward to the day when Philip Morris and the other major tobacco companies are forced to make down payments for the billions of dollars worth of harm they have inflicted on millions of Americans, including Betty Bullock."
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