|
.
|
|
|
Trial Exhibits
Medical Illustrations
Multimedia
Document Imaging
Equipment Rental
Animations
|
|
|
|
Our Experience
Our Experts
Contact Us
Terms
Job Opportunities
In the News
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| |
|
|
92-year-old plaintiff awarded $5.3 million in tobacco case: Jury Finds Addiction to Philip Morris Cigarettes Led to Wife's Lung Cancer, Death
August 14, 2009
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ - A 92-year-old plaintiff was awarded more than $5.3 million in damages after a jury decided his then-73-year-old wife died of lung cancer caused by years of cigarette smoking manufactured by Phillip Morris.
The trial in Broward County Circuit Court pitted Leon Barbanell, the husband of Shirley Barbanell, against Philip Morris USA Inc. In Phase 1 of this trial, the jury decided cigarettes caused Ms. Barbanell's lung cancer and eventual death in 1996. After a day of deliberations in Phase 2, the jury awarded Leon Barbanell 5.3 million dollars in damages.
Leon Barbanell is a patient man who has waited 13 years to get into the courtroom and present his case to a jury, said Steven J. Hammer, who tried the case with Jonathan Gdanski. Both are attorneys with the Schlesinger Law Firm of Fort Lauderdale, which represented Ms. Barbanell's estate.
Since the day he and his wife watched on TV as tobacco executives told Congress in 1994 that their products weren't addictive or harmful, Shirley knew they were lying, Gdanski said. "Mr. Barbanell just wanted his day in court. Finally, he has prevailed."
Significant in the case was the plaintiff's ability to draw on findings from the Engle Class Action which was first filed in 1994. Though the Florida Supreme Court in 2006 decertified the class action, they enabled members of the class to bring individual lawsuits relying on the findings. Among the findings which supported Barbanell's case were that Philip Morris had been found negligent, its products were defective and unreasonably dangerous, nicotine is addictive, and the company conspired to conceal information regarding the health effects of smoking, Gdanski said.
The Barbanell estate admitted during the trial that Ms. Barbanell should have tried harder to quit smoking. Philip Morris admitted no fault, even refuting whether Ms. Barbanell had lung cancer. The jury saw otherwise, concluding that Ms. Barbanell died of lung cancer caused by her addiction to nicotine in cigarettes. The jury assessed more than a third of the fault of Ms. Barbanell's death to the cigarette maker.
Mr. Barbanell still talks to Shirley every night -- and tonight before he goes to bed, we are proud that he will be able to tell her, Shirley, justice has finally been served and Phillip Morris did NOT get away with murder," said Hammer, lead trial counsel.
More then 8000 Engle Progeny cases have been filed in the State of Florida and in the last 6 months the tobacco industry has lost 5 separate individual lawsuits, 4 of those in Broward County.
# # # |
| |
|
|
|
.
|