After suing a tobacco corporation after their loved one died, the family of a deceased woman was granted almost $9 million. Carolyn Long had been a smoker for many years until stopping in 2002.
However, the harm had already been done at that moment.
In the late 1990s, she was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
She died of the disease in 2020, at the age of 80, after a long fight.
Her husband, John, filed a lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for causing her death.
His lawyers claimed that nicotine had rewired his late wife’s brain in “powerful ways” since she started smoking at a young age, making it difficult for her to quit smoking over time.
The legal team for the tobacco company argued that Carolyn Long used their products by choice.
However, the jury agreed that Carolyn Long was only 30% to blame, while R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company held 60% of the blame, and cigarette company, Philip Morris, were 10% at fault for Long’s death, though they were not present at the Florida trial.
The jury concluded that the cigarette company purposefully hooked the woman on cigarettes by advertising “light” cigarettes are just as potent as regular cigarettes.
Reacting after the ruling, the Long family attorney Shane Newlands said: “We’re grateful that the jury listened so carefully to all the evidence and then placed a very significant value on what was a very significant loss for that family.
” R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company will pay $9.75 million in total to the family of Carolyn Long.
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