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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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Woman Receives $350K in NY's First Smoking Settlement [12/19-4]
Excerpts from: $350K Smoking Settlement A State First
NY Newsday [12/18/03]
A Brooklyn jury awarded $350,000 to a woman who blamed a tobacco company after her husband -- a smoker for more than four decades -- died of lung cancer. It was the first time a jury in New York state awarded damages against a tobacco company, lawyers said.
Gladys Frankson, whose husband, Harry Frankson, began smoking in 1954 at age 13, won the damages in state Supreme Court on Thursday. The jury also determined that punitive damages will be assessed against the defendant, the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., which makes Lucky Strike cigarettes.
After his death, his wife sued, charging that the original manufacturer of Lucky Strikes, the American Tobacco Co., failed to warn its customers about the dangers of smoking. American Tobacco merged with Brown & Williamson in 1995.
The Frankson family originally asked for $400 million in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages. A hearing to determine punitive damages will be held Jan. 7.
Juries in Arkansas, Missouri, Florida, California, Oregon and Kansas have made similar awards.
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