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JURY FINDS RJ REYNOLDS GUILTY IN DEATH OF 69 YEAR OLD SMOKER
May 5, 2009
Fort Lauderdale, FL – After 5 hours of deliberation, a Fort Lauderdale jury found U.S, cigarette manufacturer RJ Reynolds guilty in the death of 69 year old smoker John Sherman. The trial, the 3rd in South Florida against tobacco manufacturers, is one of 8,000 cases that have been filed as a result of the Florida Supreme Courts order for retrial of the $145 billion Engle class action lawsuit.
Plaintiff’s lawyer Adam Trop indicated that this trial is following the same phase format that had been followed in the two previous smoker tobacco trials. The first phase considered the liability questions, 'was John Sherman addicted to cigarettes and was that the legal cause of his death?.'
The jury determined that Mr. Sherman was in fact addicted to cigarettes after first smoking them at the age of 12. A two to three pack-per-day smoker, Mr. Sherman switched to Winston brand filter cigarettes based upon R.J. Reynolds advertisements that filter cigarettes were “safer”. In 1996 John Sherman died of lung cancer – never able to give up his addiction to cigarettes.
Plaintiff attorney Gary Paige stated that the jury rejected R.J. Reynolds’ claim that Mr. Sherman made a 'personal decision' to smoke 3 to 4 packs of cigarettes a day over 50 years. He said, “Up until 2000, RJ Reynolds and the tobacco industry made a business decision to promote smoking as safe – spent billions of dollars in public relations promoting ‘junk science’ they knew was false – all in the name of keeping users hooked to make more profit.”
In phase I, the plaintiff’s attorneys were limited in describing the full nature of RJ Reynolds conspiracy. Now that the jury has found RJ Reynolds guilty, the full findings of the Engle jury will be disclosed. “Melba Sherman [Mr. Sherman’s widow] is gratified by the the jury’s verdict in phase I. The cats out of the bag, and the jury will soon learn the extent of RJ Reynolds actions. The manufacturer disregarded the health and welfare of their customers for the almighty dollar,” says Plaintiff’s co-counsel Alex Alvarez.
The jury will return tomorrow to consider compensatory damage testimony in Phase II followed by punitive damages in phase III.
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