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Kailua-Kona, HI— A Hawaii state court jury handed down a $91 million verdict earlier this month against R.J. Reynolds after finding the tobacco company liable for the throat cancer of a long-time smoker. Manious v. R.J. Reynolds, 3CCV-22-72.
Jurors found Reynolds responsible on design defect, fraud, and conspiracy claims for the laryngeal cancer Marvin Manious developed in 2020 after decades of smoking Kool-brand cigarettes made by the company. The verdict includes $6 million in compensatory damages and $85 million in punitives.
The trial, which lasted more than a month, focused in part on what drove Manious to smoke for most of his life. Reynolds contends that Manious chose to smoke, despite knowing its dangers, and did not do enough to quit cigarettes in time to avoid his cancer. During his closing argument, King & Spalding’s Randy Bassett told jurors Manious had received warnings about smoking’s risks from a range of sources, including cigarette packs, family members, and health professionals.
“He had a flood of information warning him about the dangers of smoking,” Bassett said, adding that evidence showed no one saw Manious make an effort to stop smoking until he successfully quit in 2014.
But in his closing, Manious’ attorney, The Alvarez Law Firm’s Nick Reyes, walked jurors through evidence he said showed Reynolds participated in a tobacco industry conspiracy across much of the latter half of the 20th century, aiming to undermine health information on the risks of smoking. And he added Reynolds targeted youth like Manious, who became a regular smoker at 15, all with the goal of hooking them to cigarettes the company knew were dangerous.
“They got him when he was a kid, which is how they get most of their customers,” Reyes said. “So when you’re trying to figure out blame, it’s not Marvin as an adult. It’s Marvin as a 15-year-old kid.”
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
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