San Francisco - A jury yesterday ordered two major tobacco companies to pay a dying ex-smoker $20 million in punitive damages - the first such award to someone who started smoking after government-required health warnings began appearing on cigarette packets in 1969.
In a fresh legal setback for the tobacco industry, the 12-member San Francisco Superior Court panel ordered Philip Morris Cos Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. each to pay $10 million to Ms Leslie Whiteley.