As a Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorney I am very proud of the recent verdict announced this week against a major tobacco company.
Cigarettes in my humble opinion should be banned; they serve no purpose and are extremely dangerous substances in its present manufactured form. As medical studies have demonstrated, they are nicotine delivery systems, surely there are less dangerous ways to deliver nicotine. People get addicted and the immense cost to human life is clearly palpable and with the resultant medical care and untold pain and suffering.
A Massachusetts jury has ordered cigarette maker Lorillard Inc. to pay $81 million in punitive damages to the estate of Marie Evans, who suffered a deadly addiction to Newport cigarettes.
The punitive damages came on top of $71 million awarded last week in compensatory damages.
Evans’s estate was awarded $50 million in compensatory damages, and her son, was awarded $21 million. Only the estate of Marie Evans, the person directly injured by the company’s actions, was eligible to collect punitive damages.
The lawsuit alleged that the tobacco company’s marketing plans induced Evans to start smoking as a child. She died in 2002 from lung cancer.
According to the defendants, the company no longer passes out samples of Newport cigarettes, it no longer advertises cigarettes on radio or television, and the company agrees that cigarettes cause cancer and other diseases.
The jury had already that found the company seduced Evans into smoking when she was just 13 by handing out Newport samples.
The free samples was part of the marketing strategy to reach out to youngsters in black neighborhoods, where menthol brands are popular. The jury found that Lorillard acted with negligence, breach of trust, and in a manner that was wanton and reckless.
Finally Big Tobacco is having to pay the price for its negligent activities, but it is too little too late for the victims.
Now Big Tobacco has set its sights on the Third World masses with their free samples, unfiltered cigarettes and lack of any governmental oversights to breed a new crop of addicts.
Talk of putting profits before people. The moral outrage, continues dear friends, we are slowly winning, the flame of justice just burned a little brighter this week with the announcements of these jury verdicts.
Information and commentary provided by Dallas Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorney Dr Shezad Malik. The Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm can be contacted in Dallas toll free at 214-390-3189. If you or a loved one has been injured from a truck accident, car crash or bus accident, please fill out our contact card for a free consultation.