Media Backgrounder & Commentary:

Florida Jury Awards Dying Smoker $37.5 Million in Trial Stemming from Historic Class Action
 

Boston
June 11, 2002  

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

 

Lukacs v. Philip Morris, Inc., et al.

The first individual trial in a series of, perhaps, hundreds of thousands related to a massive class action suit against the tobacco industry, resulted in a $37.5 million jury award in Miami today. Previously, another jury awarded three other class members $12.5 million and issued class wide punitive damages of $145 billion. 

CASE BACKGROUND

John Lukacs, like a yet undetermined number of Floridians suffering from cigarette-caused disease, is a member of a class action against the tobacco industry known as the "Engle" case. On July 14, 2000, after a trial lasting nearly two years in which a Miami jury issued five verdicts that established the general liability of tobacco companies for 20 diseases (including lung, bladder, and oral cancers as well as heart disease and emphysema) and liability for the injuries to 3 representative class members (including wrongful death), a class wide punitive damages verdict of nearly $145 billion was issued against Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard, Brown & Williamson, and Liggett (now Vector).  Currently, we are in the middle of an expected three to four year appeals process.  Oral arguments will be heard later this year in Florida's Third District Court of Appeals and, regardless of how that court rules, the Florida Supreme Court will ultimately rule on the tobacco industry's contention that the two year Engle trial was not fair to them.

If, as we expect, the tobacco industry fails to overturn the trial court's verdicts, a plan will be devised to handle the compensatory damages claims of the class members and distribute the $145 billion in punitive damages to sick smokers and the families of those who died from cigarette-caused disease. Nearly $800 million is already being held in escrow for the class as part of an agreement with Philip Morris to limit an appeal of a Florida statute.

John Lukacs, a 76 year old real estate attorney and former three pack a day smoker diagnosed with bladder cancer and living without a tongue due to oral cancer, is not expected to live to see the appeal resolved.  Yet he desperately wanted an opportunity to see his day in court.  So he asked the trial judge to allow him to make his case to a jury even if the verdict was subject to the outcome of the pending appeal in the class action.  Earlier this year the judge granted his request and, in April, the Third District Court of Appeals affirmed the decision to allow Mr. Lukacs the chance to have a trial before he dies. Presumably, there are hundreds of other class members in a similar position who could make the same request as Mr. Lukacs.

On May 31, Mr. Lukacs made an emotional appearance in the courtroom where he attempted to testify despite having no tongue or lower pallet, both of which were removed due to the spread of oral cancer.  He typed his responses on a computer so that the jury could understand his testimony.  Mr. Lukacs testified that advertising in the 1940s and 1950s encouraged him to smoke and that, although he had heard that cigarettes were dangerous in the 1960s after the U.S. Surgeon General released his report, he didn't know that smoking caused bladder cancer until he was diagnosed in 1991. The retired attorney testified that, "I love the courtroom. But I’m on the wrong side.  I feel very badly."  When asked why he brought his lawsuit, he answered, "Hopefully, so others won't have to."

In his closing arguments yesterday, Lukacs' attorney  Philip Gerson asked the jurors to return a verdict of $25 million for Lukacs and $12.5 million for his wife. He said, "John Lukacs' tongue did not heal. Can you imagine the pain he endured?"

The 6 person jury deliberated nearly six hours before returning the unanimous verdict shortly after 4 PM today and issuing the precise award that Mr. Gerson requested.  

COMMENTARY

Richard Daynard, a professor at Northeastern University School of Law and Chair of the Tobacco Products Liability Project noted that, "Despite the industry's insistence that it will win on appeal, every sign points to the Engle verdict and the enormous Florida class surviving the appellate process."

"The Florida Supreme Court twice declined to intervene in the Engle trial and decertify or otherwise alter the class," said Mark Gottlieb, an attorney with the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University School of Law.  "And the Third District Court of Appeals probably would not have allowed the Lukacs case to move forward if it had plans to dismantle the Engle class in the pending appeal."

Edward L. Sweda, Jr., Senior Attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project noted that "four Engle class members have sought to prove to a jury that their injuries were caused by the reprehensible conduct of the tobacco industry and the jury agreed with the plaintiff in each instance.  We are optimistic that the rest of the Engle class will have an opportunity to have their day in court just as Mr. Lukacs has had his wish to see justice granted."   

Click here for background on the first Engle verdict.

Click here for background on the Engle punitive damages verdict.

Click here for background on the $800 million already guaranteed to the Engle class.

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