AI-generated stock image.
Tampa, FL— Although jurors Friday handed down a $220,000 verdict at trial against R.J. Reynolds over the cancer that killed a Florida smoker, they apportioned only 15 percent of the blame to the tobacco giant, which will likely slash the post-verdict award. Johns v. R.J. Reynolds, 2017-CA-007972.
Friday’s verdict capped an eight-day trial over the 2011 death of Dale Stevens, 63. Her family says she began smoking when she was a teen and continued for much of the rest of her life. In 1995 doctors diagnosed her with laryngeal cancer. Sixteen years later she was diagnosed with her ultimately fatal lung cancer. Stevens’ family claims Reynolds is responsible for her death by hooking her to cigarettes that it knew were dangerous.
However, Friday’s verdict apportioned 85% of responsibility to Stevens herself, which will likely reduce the post-verdict award to $33,000.
The case is among the last of thousands of “Engle progeny” cases that have faced Florida juries for more than 15 years. These cases are spun from Engle v. Liggett Group Inc., a Florida state court class-action lawsuit against the nation’s tobacco companies, originally filed in 1994. After a trial victory for the class members, the state’s supreme court decertified the class, ruling plaintiffs were required to try key elements of their claims individually. Engle progeny plaintiffs are entitled to the benefit of the jury's findings in the original verdict, including the determination that tobacco companies had placed a dangerous, addictive product on the market, if they prove the smoker at the heart of the case suffered from nicotine addiction that was the legal cause of a smoking-related disease such as cancer.
As with most Engle progeny trials, the question of what drove Stevens’ smoking decisions was a central issue for the jury.
During closings last Friday, Freidin Brown’s Philip Freidi told jurors that Stevens had her first cigarette at a time when smoking was commonplace. He said evidence showed she was powerfully hooked to cigarettes over the decades, failing in numerous quit attempts. By contrast, Fredin said Reynolds manipulated nicotine levels to fuel addiction and worked to undermine scientific evidence concerning smoking’s risks throughout much of the latter half of the 20th century.
“She basically listened to their lies, listened to their falsehoods, trusted them, and now [the defense argues] it’s her fault for trusting them and their lies,” Freidin said.
But in his closing, Reynolds’ attorney, Jones Day’s John Walker, pushed back on contentions that nicotine engineering and cigarette marketing drove Stevens’ smoking decisions. Walker told jurors evidence showed Stevens enjoyed smoking and was aware of warnings surrounding smoking, but did not do enough to quit cigarettes in time to avoid her cancer. He added that Stevens’ daughter testified she didn’t remember seeing Stevens take action to quit smoking before 1995.
“Actions speak louder than words. And what do her actions show?" Walker asked. "Her actions show that for the vast majority of the time, she wasn’t doing anything to try to quit smoking.”
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
Related information
Not a subscriber?
Learn how you can access an unrivaled trial video library.
