Philip Morris Hit with $13.8-Million Judgment in Calif. Sick-Smoker Case

A Los Angeles jury has ordered tobacco company Philip Morris USA to pay $13.8 million in punitive damages to the daughter of a smoker who died of lung cancer, Bloomberg reported Aug. 25.

The award to the daughter of smoker Betty Bullock, who died in 2003, came after a trial judge reduced an earlier judgment of $28 billion; that award later was canceled by an appeals court and a new trial on punitive damages ordered.

Bullock was a Marlboro smoker for decades and said that ads for the cigarettes helped convince her to smoke. Her lawyer told jurors that Philip Morris had misrepresented the health risks of smoking for half a century.

Philip Morris has not decided whether to appeal the latest judgment. Some jurors on the case wanted to award even more money to Bullock.