Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, found the decedent, Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx, to be 63% at fault, RJR Tobacco to be 3% at fault and the remaining defendants collectively to be 34% at fault, and awarded approximately $1.37 million in compensatory damages. Punitive damages were not awarded.
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, 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, 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 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. In the wake of Xxxxx, thousands of individual progeny actions were filed in federal and state courts in Florida. Such actions are commonly referred to as “Xxxxx Progeny” cases. As of December 12, 2014, 806 Xxxxx Progeny cases were pending in federal court, and 3,194 of them were pending in state court. These cases include approximately 5,084 plaintiffs. In addition, as of Xxxxxxxx 00, 0000, XXX Xxxxxxx was aware of 16 additional Xxxxx Progeny cases that had been filed but not served. One hundred nineteen Xxxxx Progeny cases have been tried in Florida state and federal courts since 2011, and numerous state court trials are scheduled for 2015. 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 verdict favorable to RJR Tobacco. Such offers are sometimes made through court-ordered mediations. In Xxxxx Progeny cases tried to date, a central issue has been the proper use of the preserved Xxxxx findings. RJR Tobacco has argued that use of the Xxxxx findings to establish individual elements of progeny claims (such as defect, negligence and concealment) is a violation of federal due pr...
Xxxxxxxx Tobacco Co a case filed in December 2007 in the Circuit Court, Broward County, Florida, the court declared a mistrial due to the jury’s inability to reach a decision. The plaintiff alleged that as a result of the decedent, Xxxxx Xxxxxxxx’x, addiction to cigarettes, she developed lung cancer and died. The plaintiff sought damages in excess of $15,000 and all taxable costs and interest. Retrial began in March 2010. On April 21, 2010, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in Phase I, finding that the decedent was addicted to cigarettes containing nicotine and the addiction was the legal cause of her death by lung cancer. On April 29, 2010, the jury awarded $1.9 million in compensatory damages and no punitive damages. The jury also found RJR Tobacco to be 25% at fault, the decedent to be 70% at fault and the decedent’s spouse to be 5% at fault. Final judgment was entered in June 2010, in the amount of $483,682. RJR Tobacco filed a notice of appeal and posted a supersedeas bond in the amount of approximately $484,000 in July 2010. The plaintiff filed a notice of cross appeal. Briefing is underway. On March 10, 2010, in Xxxxxxx x. Xxxxxx Xxxxxx USA, Inc., a case filed in October 2007 in Circuit Court, Hillsborough County, Florida, a jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, found the decedent, Charlotte Xxxxxxx, to be 50% at fault, RJR Tobacco to be 5% at fault and the remaining defendants to be 45% at fault, and awarded $5 million in compensatory damages. No punitive damages were awarded. The plaintiff alleged that as a result of the decedent’s addiction to smoking the defendants’ cigarettes, she suffered bodily injury and died. In March 2010, the court entered final judgment against RJR Tobacco in the amount of $250,000. RJR Tobacco filed a notice of appeal to the Second District Court of Appeal and posted a supersedeas bond in the amount of $250,000. 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 a case filed in May 2007 in the Circuit Court, Broward County, Florida, a jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. The plaintiff alleged that the decedent, Xxxxxx Xxxxx, developed lung cancer as a result of using the defendants’ products, and sought in excess of $15,000 compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages. On March 24, 2010, the jury awarded the plaintiff $10 million in compensatory damages, and found the decedent to be 33.3% at fault, RJR Tobacco to be 33.3% at fault and the remaining defendant to be 33.3% at fault. The jury also awarded $20 million in punitive damages, of which $10 million was assigned to RJR Tobacco. In July 2010, the court entered final judgment against RJR Tobacco in the amount of $3.33 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages. The court entered an amended judgment in September 2010 to include interest from the date of the verdict. RJR Tobacco filed a notice of appeal to the Fourth DCA and posted a supersedeas bond in the amount of $2.5 million. In September 2012, the Fourth DCA affirmed the liability finding and the compensatory damages award, but reversed the finding of entitlement to punitive damages, and remanded the case for a retrial limited to the issue of liability for concealment and conspiracy. The defendants and the plaintiff filed separate notices to invoke the discretionary jurisdiction of the Florida Supreme Court in January 2013. In February 2014, the Florida Supreme Court, on its own motion, consolidated the petitions for review filed by the plaintiff and RJR Tobacco and stayed the petitions pending disposition by the court of Xxxx v.
