Jury Awards $14M to Smoker's Daughter

A jury has decided that cigarette maker Philip Morris USA should pay $13.8 million in punitive damages to the daughter of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer.

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury returned the verdict Monday, more than eight years after the smoker, Betty Bullock, sued the company for fraud and product liability. The panel voted 9-to-3 in favor of Bullock's daughter Jodie Bullock, who is now the plaintiff in the case.

Betty Bullock died of lung cancer in February 2003. She had sued Philip Morris in April 2001, accusing the company of fraud and product liability. A jury in 2002 recommended Philip Morris pay a record $28 billion in punitive damages to Bullock, but a judge later reduced the award to $28 million.

In 2008, the 2nd U.S. District Court of Appeal reversed the jury's decision and remanded the case for a new trial over the punitive damages. Philip Morris said the $28 million remained excessive.

However, the original jury ordered the tobacco company to pay Bullock $750,000 in damages and $100,000 for pain and suffering, a verdict that still stands.

Betty Bullock, 64, of Newport Beach, started smoking Marlboros when she was 17 and later turned to Benson & Hedges, both Philip Morris products.

Attorneys for Philip Morris argued Betty Bullock could have stopped smoking at anytime and the harmful effects of cigarettes were known to smokers.

Philip Morris is a unit of Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group Inc.