Florida court rejects $6 million in punitive damages against tobacco company

TALLAHASSEE — In a win for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., a Florida appeals court Wednesday rejected a $6 million punitive damages award in a case involving a smoking-related sickness. 

A 3-judge panel of the first District Court of Appeal stated a Gadsden County decide gave improper jury directions about punitive damages. Richard and Margaret Harris filed the lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds, with the case persevering with as a wrongful-death declare after Richard Harris died in 2016, based on Wednesday’s ruling. 

The lawsuit was one in every of 1000’s of instances filed against tobacco corporations after a 2006 Florida Supreme Court resolution established vital findings about points reminiscent of the hazards of smoking and misrepresentation by cigarette makers. 

Those lawsuits are referred to as “Engle progeny” instances. A jury awarded $4 million in compensatory damages and $6 million in punitive damages to Harris’ property. 

But Wednesday’s ruling stated the circuit decide improperly instructed the jury that it might contemplate the Engle findings when deciding whether or not to award punitive damages. 

“There simply is no way to determine whether the jury based its punitive entitlement determination solely on independent evidence of R.J. Reynolds’ conduct or whether it relied in part on the Engle findings,” stated the ruling, written by Judge Rachel Nordby and joined by Judges Joseph Lewis and Robert Long. 

“The trial court affirmatively instructed the jury that it could consider the findings for purposes of punitive damages.”