During closings of Ina Ahrens's trial against cigarette makers R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris. Gary Paige tells jurors the Heaviness of Smoking Index shows Karl Ahrens was addicted to nicotine.

Updated 2/12/16, 2:04 p.m.:

St. Petersburg, FL—Jurors today awarded $9 million in compensatory damages to the widow and son of a Florida man after finding the nation’s two largest tobacco companies responsible for his fatal lung cancer. Ahrens v. Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, 07-013535-CI-08.

Decatur, GA—Trial is scheduled to begin next week in a suit by a man who claims a Conyers hospital’s medical staff failed to properly treat his wife’s aneurysm in time to prevent a series of strokes that caused her life-long brain damage. Evans v. Sutton, et al, 13A48465-4.

Dr. Allan Goldman tells jurors he is "sure" Elizabeth Smith had lung cancer before November 21, 1996, the bar date for her claim against two tobacco companies and more than a year before doctors diagnosed her with the disease. 

West Palm Beach, FL—A pulmonologist told jurors Friday he was certain a Florida smoker had lung cancer within the time frame allowed to bring her claim against two tobacco companies, and which closed more than a year before doctors diagnosed her with the disease. Smith v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., et al., 2007-CA-023930.

The trial: Mary Fellers v. Just People Inc.

The turning point: A security video showing Hunter Fellers, a mentally disabled adult who suffered from seizures, underwater for six minutes at an unsupervised pool party organized by Just People Inc., an organization that assists people with mental disabilities.

The result: A $2.022 million verdict for the plaintiff, Mary Fellers.

Mark Belasic delivers closing arguments on behalf of R.J. Reynolds in Doris Ewing's suit against Reynolds and Philip Morris for the respiratory disease and death of her husband, James "J.R." Ewing. Jurors awarded $240,000 in damages against Reynolds, but found James Ewing 98% responsible for his COPD and absolved Philip Morris of any liability. 

Pensacola,FL—A jury Thursday largely cleared the nation’s two largest cigarette manufacturers of responsibility for the respiratory disease and death of a decades-long smoker, awarding $240,000 in unreduced damages but finding the smoker 98% at fault. Ewing v. R.J. Reynolds, 2009-CA-002791.