Widow smoker sued tobacco giant $ 23 billion

tobacco company RJ Reynolds Tobacco - the second largest cigarette manufacturer in the United States - pay the widow of the deceased smoker $ 23 billion. This decision, as reported by BBC News, on Sunday, July 20, the Court adopted Florida. The enterprise stated that the amount of compensation, which has become one of the largest in the history of the American state, "goes beyond the reasonable and fair." Cynthia Robinson - widow of Michael Johnson, who died of lung cancer at the age of 36 years, filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer of cigarettes in 2008. A resident of the city of Pensacola claimed that her husband - a bus driver - smoked up to three packs a day for over 20 years. "He could not give up the habit. He smoked, even in the day of his death in 1996, "- said the lawyer Reuters istitsy.

Court hearing lasted four weeks. The lawyers insisted that the tobacco company did not provide sufficient information about the dangers of smoking and addiction, which occurs in humans in the process. Initially, the jury decided that RJ Reynolds Tobacco to pay the widow, and her son, 7, 3, 9, 6 million dollars respectively. However, after an additional seven-hour discussion board increased the total amount up to 23, $ 6 billion.


Vice president Jeffrey Reborn said that the volume of payments "grossly exaggerated and not allowed under state law, as well as from the point of view of constitutional law." "This verdict is beyond the scope of reasonable and equitable", - he stressed. The tobacco giant intends to challenge the decision of the court, ITAR-TASS reported.

Source: lenta.ru/news/2014/07/20/smoker/