$81M Punitive Damages in Massachusetts Cigarette Case

By | December 21, 2010

  • December 21, 2010 at 12:50 pm
    wudchuck says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    “The company’s lawyer also said Evans herself decided to start smoking and continued to smoke even after she suffered a heart attack in 1985 and her doctors repeatedly urged her to quit.”

    so, here’s the question…. so 17 yrs later she still smoked and then died… she was even told by her doctors to quit… so why is it that we can still say, tobacco company is responsible? this is ridiculous… how long have the warning labels been on the cigarettes? whose to say that her mom gave her the cigarettes and not the company? back when she was 13, was it legal for her to smoke? she was 53 at the time of her death. this is one of the reasons why they put labels on things because kids don’t read and the reason for having to be 18… question: when did the age requirement to purchase tobacco products come into play along with the warning labels? this won’t be the end of these lawsuits…

  • December 21, 2010 at 12:56 pm
    Sarah says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    Comrade Wudchuck,

    You’re advocating personal responsibility? Isn’t your daughter and grandchild on Medicaid?

    He who lives in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

  • December 21, 2010 at 1:07 am
    Big Mike In CA says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    Sarah: What are you talking about? What does Medicaid have to do with this particular situation?

  • December 21, 2010 at 1:07 am
    TxLady says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    1st , Sarah, not knowing the circumstances, I think your comment is out of line on Wudchuck’s family. There are many reasons they could be on medicaid, disability being one. You have a lot of nerve.
    Now on to the cigarette topic. This lady chose to smoke, she then chose to continue to smoke. Her death is regrettable, her health choices and contributing factors could have been improved had she CHOSE to quit. Instead she chose to get her family to sue. My parents smoked. my dad was given free cigarettes in WWII, my mom smoked 50+ years before quitting. Cigarettes caused them health problems and hastened their death with complicaitons caused by their CHOICE to smoke. It was their choice, just as it is my choice to say it was their fault. They would never have dreamed of asking their family to file a lawsuit against the cigarette manufacturers. This is bull@@it! Even if they gave out free cigarettes, that does not make this woman a life long smoker and make the company at fault. If someone drank Coke samples and then later drank Coke all their life and developed diabetes and complications, does that make Coke at fault for making a product people chose to use? Take responsibility for yourself and what you choose to do!! You are not always a victim!

  • December 21, 2010 at 1:10 am
    P.K. says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    As a white person, I’m offended that once again, the blacks played the race card referring to “black children” as the target of the big bad cigarette companies. I suppose if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

    Her estate calls her situation a “fatal addiction” and that the tobacco company is guilty of “wrongful death”. Give me a freakin’ break. Yeah…..because she ignored her own health and made a stupid decision that smoking was more important than staying alive.

    Where does the court get off with such an outrageous award? Why should the “estate” become unjustly enriched and not have to pay a dime in tax? And the attorneys pick up a cool $32,400,000 all their hard work. This is a pathetic charade.

  • December 21, 2010 at 1:20 am
    Non-smoker says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    Thanks for reviving an old memory TxLady. Even as late as the Viet Nam war we used to get 4 free cigarettes in our “C” rations. I always gave mine to my buddy, hope he doesn’t sue me.

  • December 21, 2010 at 1:27 am
    J.S. says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    For most of the awards highlighted in this forum, I too see an appalling lack of acceptance for personal responsibility.

    However, in the case of the cigarette companies, I strongly feel it’s time to require corporate responsibility and these awards are a step in that direction.

    The tobacco companies have pushed their product on children for generations both with giving them away and with their advertising. Remember, almost no one starts smoking after age 18.

    For years, they lied about the addictive nature of their product. They fully understood that by getting lots of children addicted, a reasonably large number would then find it impossible to quit, thus insuring profits amounting to billions of dollars.

    They systematically bought congresspersons and senators to assure that they would be protected by the law and that they would receive government subsidies amounting to billions of dollars more.

    The cigarette companies absolutely deserve these judgements. They acted with, in my opinion, criminal disregard for the public and since our legislators won’t do anything about it, it’s up to the juries.

  • December 21, 2010 at 1:35 am
    wudchuck says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    understand,currently she still has not gotten anything from uncle same and is trying to make it… but when uncle sam says it was going to help but has balked at it’s commitment makes me wonder how can we trus it for further services… .. but how much is too much? this is why we have problems….

  • December 21, 2010 at 1:39 am
    Joe Mama says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    Seriously people need to stop looking to blame everyone else! You have a brain, you have free will-use them! Ultimately, if you choose to start a bad habit, the choice is yours and ONLY YOURS to stop it. I’m so sick of people not wanting to take responsibility for their own actions! I guess the families of people who die from clogged arteries are going to start suing Land O’Lakes for providing restaurants with pats of butter that are free to use on those complimentary rolls. Absolutely absurd! All of it!

  • December 21, 2010 at 1:44 am
    earlybird says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    If you have ever been on a jury for a civil or criminal case, you likely know why and how these rediculous verdicts are reached. I have been in state and federal court. The demographics of the jury, economic status, education level, and yes, maybe race, seemed to be the determinants of the outcome, in both of the cases I heard. 25-33% of the jurors dont have a “clue” about the evidence presented. They want to award those they perceive as disadvantaged, both economically and socially.

  • December 21, 2010 at 1:45 am
    Reformed Smoker says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    The only thing I might add would be that paying these settlements directly to individual estates does rub many people the wrong way, myself included. My first cigarette came at 13, like many others, but I can’t say with straight face that it was the Marlboro Man’s fault or Joe Camel’s fault. And sometime around age 16 or 18, I certainly knew better. Yet my last cigarette didn’t come until age 41. That’s on me, not Philip Morris. I’d like to see the tobacco companies make restitution to the Medicare/Medicaid system. Twofold benefit: the system gets repaid in part for the smoking-related healthcare costs & the tobacco companies go out of business.

  • December 21, 2010 at 1:54 am
    wudchuck says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    ok, let’s put some history behind this…

    how many of you realize that the gov’t knew the recipe for cigarettes and hid the recipe along w/the tobacco company. now the gov’t did not realize the consequences of the cancer until later, but that is what drew them to put warning labels on packs. did people read them, mostly no! so, because the fed’s have medicaid and medicare, they were losing money because they had agreed to hide that they knew about the recipe long ago.. blame belongs to everyone, from the feds to tobacco company to the individual. someone put it interestingly, if we continued to drink soda, shall we file a lawsuit? it is a choice but there is not warning label on soda? if i continue to drink alcohol, can i sue the liquor company or even the state for selling it in the abc stores? where is the accountability? how many other items will doctors keep saying it causes cancer? have ever seen how long that list is? our choice is our choice! when the lord above is ready to take us, he will! we just need to get off the fact that it’s always someone else at fault and they deserve to pay out – no matter how big the $$$.

  • December 21, 2010 at 2:06 am
    CT Agent says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    what about all the people she made sick with the second hand smoke? Do they get to sue, as well? And their children? Do they get to sue? Where does it stop?!

  • December 21, 2010 at 2:10 am
    J.S. says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    I agree that there is plenty of blame to go around, including from individual smokers. And of course the government let it go on, that was the role of legislators from the tobacco producing states.

    But, why is it that the ONLY party you feel should accept responsibility for their actions is the indiviual smoker?

    Let’s share the responsibility and since the smoker has already paid a very large price for their actions (death or disease), maybe the cigarette companies can accept their share, after all, they’re the ones who are making billions off of all this misery in the first place.

    And I’m perfectly comfortable with Reformed Smoker’s suggestion.

  • December 21, 2010 at 3:03 am
    TxLady says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    J.S. where does it stop? With Tobacco? How about Beer companies? Liquor companies? They turn people into alcoholics and cause suffering for the families and health issues and sometime death for the alcoholics. Want about sugar treats, soda, cookies, candy? Weight issues and diabetes and all that entials? Hold them responsible? How about the RX drug makers who get people sometimes hooked on legal painkillers? Casinos luring you with their bright lights and excitement and keeping you from paying the mortgage because you gambled it all away? Are they responsible for the loss of your house just because they lured you away with the possibility of riches? Time to be responsible for yourself and quit looking for someone else to turn your misfortune into your personal Lotto.

  • December 21, 2010 at 3:56 am
    Expert says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    Perfect example of the ultra-liberal, always find someone else to blame for your own created problems, judicial system and what is wrong with America today. Need to reinstill basic values in our society. And remember folks, these awards come out of your pockets directly or indirectly, so don’t rejoice because the “bad guys” got caught.

  • December 21, 2010 at 3:59 am
    Pharma says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    Cigarettes — when used as intended — can kill you. When used as directed, cigarettes can cause cancer.

    smokers suck anyway

  • December 21, 2010 at 4:04 am
    Expert says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    One additional comment needs to be made, it appears. Some commenters complaint that the “government” didn’t do something about this outrageous conduct of cigarette manufacturers maj=king their products what we wanted them to be. Since when has the “government” been responsible
    for our own behavior? And do you really think the “government” ever does anything really well? Wake up and look around – U.S.P.S., Internal Revenue, Congress, Justice Dept., etc., etc. – last place I would go for what’s right is the “government” because those folks are mostly interested in themselves, and their graft and influence peddling.

  • December 21, 2010 at 4:21 am
    Sarah says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    You want to get rid of the FDA? Salmonella for everyone!

  • December 22, 2010 at 6:24 am
    wudchuck says:
    Like or Dislike:
    Thumb up 0
    Thumb down 0

    here’s the thing, we are going to keep giving these enormous awards and companies are then going to go bankrupt — then the feds will bail them out… no cash will exchange hands because of the bankruptcy.. that family will be out of money because bankruptcy will clear all creditors… it will leave that family/estate in hock with the lawyer for his amount due… so where did we wind up? back at the beginning with no money at all and now oweing the lawyer. so in the end, we wind up with a case that bogged the courts down because – we had a lawyer with a eye for a $$. we have a person that did not quit because the doctor had advised her to. again, that means she took it upon herself to continue to smoke. the kids did not kill her. the estate did not kill her. she killed herself from smoking. she had an option to stop! it was her choice!

    like a previous entry, why stop with cigarettes? why not alcohol, fast food joints, bars, soda makers, etc… when will we finally take responsibility of our own choices/actions?



Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*