Smoker’s Daughter Awarded $13.8 Million From Philip Morris USA

The daughter of an Orange County, California woman who died of lung cancer after a lifetime of smoking has been awarded $13.8 million in punitive damages from cigarette maker Philip Morris USA.

Jodie Bullock, whose mother, Betty Bullock, died in February 2003, sued the cigarette maker in 2001, accusing the company of product liability and fraud. Her lawsuit has been on a legal roller coaster for years.

In 2002, jurors recommended that Philip Morris pay $28 billion in punitive damages, a record-setting amount that later was reduced by a judge to $28 million. Then, in 2008, an appeals court reversed the jury’s award and sent the case back for a new trial on punitive damages, which the cigarette company argued was excessive as a matter of law.

The jury’s award for Philip Morris to pay Bullock $850,000 for compensatory damages, pain, and suffering remains in place. Only the punitive damages award was disputed.

A new jury now has set the punitive damages award for Bullock at $13.8 million, but Philip Morris is vowing again to fight an amount it sees as excessive and “patently unreasonable.”

Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc., which owns Philip Morris, said any amount given to Bullock’s daughter is unwarranted.

“After hearing weeks of improper arguments and evidence that violated state and federal law on punitive damages, the jury still managed to reject plaintiff’s patently unreasonable request,” said Murray Garnick, Altria Client Services senior vice president, speaking on behalf of Philip Morris, according to an outstanding report by veteran Associated Press reporter Greg Risling. “Even so, we believe that any punitive damages award is unwarranted based on the facts in this case and that this award is unconstitutionally excessive.”

Betty Bullock, 64, of Newport Beach, started smoking Marlboro cigarettes at age 17 and later began using Benson & Hedges. Both are Philip Morris-brand products.

Philip Morris attorneys argued that Bullock could have stopped smoking at anytime and that she should have known about the harmful effects of cigarettes.

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