Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, found the decedent, Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx, to be 30% at fault and RJR Tobacco to be 70% at fault, and awarded $7 million in compensatory damages and $8.5 million in punitive damages.
Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co. [Xxxxx Progeny] Circuit Court, Broward County, (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) $15.1 million in compensatory damages; 30% of fault assigned to RJR Tobacco, which reduced the award to $4.5 million; $5 million in punitive damages, of which $2.5 million was assigned to RJR Tobacco. See “— Xxxxx and Xxxxx Progeny Cases” below.
Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co. [Xxxxx Progeny] Circuit Court, Escambia County, (Pensacola, FL) $7.8 million in compensatory damages; 39% of fault assigned to RJR Tobacco, which reduced the award to $3.04 million. No punitive damages awarded. See “— Xxxxx and Xxxxx Progeny Cases” below.
Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co. [Xxxxx Progeny] Circuit Court, Alachua County, (Gainesville, FL) $10.8 million in compensatory damages and $80 million punitive damages; 51% of fault assigned to RJR Tobacco, which reduced the award to $5.5 million in compensatory damages; $40.8 million in punitive damages. See “— Xxxxx and Xxxxx Progeny Cases” below.
Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendants, including RJR Tobacco. The case was filed in January 2011, in the Circuit Court, Alachua County, Florida. The plaintiff alleged that as a result of using the defendants’ products, she suffers from lung cancer and emphysema. The plaintiff’s motion for a new trial was denied on August 2, 2013. Final judgment was entered on July 10, 2013. The plaintiff filed a notice of appeal to the First DCA, and the defendants filed a notice of cross appeal in August 2013. Briefing is underway.
Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co. [Xxxxx Progeny] Circuit Court, Xxxxx County, (Jacksonville, FL) $6 million in compensatory damages; 45% of fault assigned to RJR Tobacco, which reduced the award to $2.7 million; $17 million in punitive damages against each defendant awarded. See “— Xxxxx and Xxxxx Progeny Cases” below.
Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co a case filed in December 2007, in the Circuit Court, Escambia County, Florida, the court declared a mistrial due to the inability to seat a jury. The plaintiff alleged that as a result of his use of the defendants’ products, he suffers from nicotine addiction and one or more smoking-related diseases and/or conditions, and sought an unspecified amount of compensatory damages. A new trial will be scheduled at a later date.
Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co and the related Xxxxx Progeny cases; and the case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, referred to as RICO. In 2000, a jury in Xxxxx x. Xxxxxxx Group, a class-action brought against the major U.S. cigarette manufacturers by Florida smokers allegedly harmed by their addiction to nicotine, rendered a $145 billion punitive damages verdict in favor of the class. In 2006, the Florida Supreme Court set aside that award, prospectively decertified the class, and preserved several of the Xxxxx jury findings for use in subsequent individual actions to be filed within one year of its decision. The preserved findings include jury determinations that smoking causes various diseases, that nicotine is addictive, and that each defendant sold cigarettes that were defective and unreasonably dangerous, committed unspecified acts of negligence and individually and jointly concealed unspecified information about the health risks of smoking. The Xxxxx findings do not indicate that all cigarettes sold by each defendant were defective and unreasonably dangerous, nor do they specify what acts of negligence each defendant committed, or what information each defendant concealed. In the wake of Xxxxx, thousands of individual progeny actions were filed in federal and state courts in Florida. Such actions are referred to as the Xxxxx Progeny cases. As of September 30, 2013, 1,961 cases were pending in federal court, and 3,226 cases were pending in state court. These cases include approximately 6,344 plaintiffs. In addition, as of Xxxxxxxxx 00, 0000, XXX Xxxxxxx was aware of 17 additional cases that had been filed but not served. One hundred and four cases have been tried in Florida state and federal courts since 2010, and numerous state court trials are scheduled for late 2013 and early 2014. The number of pending cases fluctuates for a variety of reasons, including voluntary and involuntary dismissals. Voluntary dismissals include cases in which a plaintiff accepts an “offer of judgment,” referred to in Florida statutes as “proposals for settlement,” from RJR Tobacco and/or its affiliates. An offer of judgment, if rejected by the plaintiff, preserves RJR Tobacco’s right to recover attorneys’ fees under Florida law in the event of a favorable verdict and is sometimes made through court-ordered mediations.
Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co a case filed in December 2007 in the Circuit Court, Broward County, Florida, a jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, found the decedent, Xxxxxx Xxxxxx, to be 35% at fault, RJR Tobacco to be 30% at fault and the remaining defendants to be 35% at fault, and awarded $15.1 million in compensatory damages and $2.5 million in punitive damages each against RJR Tobacco and the remaining defendants. The plaintiff alleged that the decedent suffered from nicotine addiction and lung cancer as a result of using the defendants’ products. In August 2010, final judgment was entered against RJR Tobacco in the amount of $4.5 million in compensatory damages, and $2.5 million in punitive damages. RJR Tobacco filed a notice of appeal and the plaintiff filed a notice of cross appeal. In December 2010, the court entered an amended final judgment to provide that interest would run from April 26, 2010. The defendants filed a joint notice of appeal to the Fourth DCA of the amended final judgment, and RJR Tobacco posted a supersedeas bond in the amount of approximately $2.4 million. In June 2013, the Fourth DCA held that the court erred in denying the defendants’ motion for remittitur of the compensatory damages for loss of consortium and in striking the defendants’ statute of repose affirmative defenses. As a result, the verdict was reversed, and the case was remanded for further proceedings. The plaintiff’s motion for rehearing, written opinion on one issue, or certification of conflict to the Florida Supreme Court was denied in August 2013. The defendants and the plaintiff filed separate notices to invoke the discretionary jurisdiction of the Florida Supreme Court. Decisions are pending. On May 20, 2010, in Xxxxxxx v. X. X. Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co., a case filed in October 2007 in the Circuit Court, Broward County, Florida, a jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, found RJR Tobacco to be 77.5% at fault and the decedent, Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxx, to be 22.5% at fault, and awarded $5.2 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages. The plaintiff alleged that the decedent was addicted to cigarettes and, as a result, developed one or more smoking related medical conditions and/or diseases. Post-trial motions were denied, but the court, in accordance with the Florida statutory limitation on punitive damage awards, ordered the punitive damage award of $25 million be reduced to $15.7 million – three times the compensatory damages award of $5.2 million. ...
Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co the jury returned a verdict in favor of RJR Tobacco. In the second quarter of 2011, a verdict was entered in a health-care cost recovery case. In April 2011, in City of St. Xxxxx x. American Tobacco Co., Inc., the jury returned a verdict in favor of all defendants. For a detailed description of the case, see “— Health-Care Cost Recovery Cases – Hospital Cases” below. The following chart reflects the verdicts in the smoking and health cases or health-care cost recovery cases that have been tried and remain pending as of June 30, 2011, in which verdicts have been returned in favor of the plaintiffs and against RJR Tobacco or B&W, or both. Date of Verdict Case Name/Type Jurisdiction Verdict Cross-Reference to Post-Trial Status December 18, 2003 Xxxxxxxx x. Xxxxx & Xxxxxxxxxx Tobacco Corp. [Individual] Supreme Court, Kings County (Brooklyn, NY) $350,000 in compensatory damages; 50% fault assigned to B&W; $20 million in punitive damages, of which $6 million was assigned to B&W, and $2 million to a predecessor company. See “— Individual Smoking and Health Cases” below. February 2, 2005 Xxxxx x. Xxxxx & Xxxxxxxxxx Tobacco Corp. [Individual] Circuit Court, Xxxxxxx County (Independence, MO) $2 million in compensatory damages, which was reduced to $500,000 because of jury’s findings that the plaintiff was 75% at fault; $20 million in punitive damages. See “— Individual Smoking and Health Cases” below. August 17, 0000 Xxxxxx Xxxxxx v. Xxxxxx Xxxxxx USA, Inc. [Governmental Health-Care Cost Recovery] U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington, DC) RJR Tobacco and B&W were found liable for civil RICO claims; were enjoined from using certain brand descriptors and from making certain misrepresentations; and were ordered to make corrective communications on five subjects, including smoking and health and addiction, to reimburse the U.S. Department of Justice appropriate costs associated with the lawsuit, and to maintain document web sites. See “— Health-Care Cost Recovery Cases – Department of Justice Case” below.
