Fla. Judge Cuts Jury Award to Former Smoker

Philip Morris will have to pay $38.9 million to a former smoker with emphysema instead of the $300 million ordered by a jury, a Florida judge has ruled.

The Associated Press reported Feb. 25 that Broward Circuit Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld said that the original award against the tobacco company was “grossly excessive.” Jurors had awarded a mix of punitive and compensitory damages to Cindy Naugle, 61, a former smoker of Benson & Hedges cigarettes. “I must conclude the jury was moved by passions — sympathy for Cindy’s suffering and anger towards (Philip Morris’) conduct and strategy” in blaming Naugle for her illness, Streitfeld said in reducing the award.

Both sides in the case plan to appeal the latest decison — Naugle to get the original award reinstated, Philip Morris to get it reduced further.