Large Tobacco Settlements of the Past
November 5, 2003
U.S. juries have awarded billions of dollars to sick smokers in the past. Most of the sums were reduced on appeal, however. Here's a list of some of the biggest settlements.
March/April 1999: Surviving family members of an Oregon chain smoker are awared $81 million (€70.6 million). A month later, a judge in San Francisco awards $26.5 million (€23.1 million) to an ex-smoker with cancer. Philip Morris was the defendant in both cases.
July 2000: A Miami jury orders tobacco companies to pay $145 billion (€126.4 billion) to 500,000 smokers in a class action lawsuit. It is the biggest award ever in a civil lawsuit so far. The tobacoo companies appeal the verdict.
March 2001: For the first time, a tobacco company pays compensation to a single sick smoker: A Florida man sick with lung cancer receives $1.1 million (€958,000). The man had sued the company charging it with distributing a "harmful product".
May 2001: Three U.S. tobacco firms agree to pay $700 million (€610.1 million) to the plaintiffs in the Miami trial.
Erkrankungen.
October 2002: A Los Angeles jury awards $28.2 billion (€24.5 billion) to a 64-year-old smoker with lung cancer. A judge later reduces the award to $28 million (€24.4 million)
March 2003: An Illinois judge orders Philip Morris to pay $10.1 million (€8.8 million) because of false advertisement of so-called light cigarettes. A class action lawsuit had been filed by 1.1 million smokers.