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Broward County Jury Awards $780,000 to Smoker’s Family
On Friday, March 6, 2009, a Broward County jury ordered Liggett Group (the company who produced Chesterfield cigarettes) to pay $1.3 million to the widow of Joseph Ferlanti who died of lung cancer due to his addiction to nicotine that caused him to chain smoke Chesterfield cigarettes for 65 years. The jury apportioned 60% fault to Liggett Group and 40% to Ferlanti, which will net Mrs. Ferlanti approximately $780,000. This is the second Engle Progeny trial of approximately 8,000 lawsuits filed against Big Tobacco in the Florida court system. The verdict in Ferlanti v. Liggett comes on the heals of the verdict last month in Hess v. R.J. Reynolds where a Broward County jury ordered Philip Morris to pay $8 million to Elaine Hess, the widow of a smoker who died of lung cancer due to his addiction to nicotine that caused him to chain smoke two packs of cigarettes daily for decades.
Another 25 tobacco cases are on trial dockets in Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, and Jacksonville and should go to trial before the end of 2009. Hopefully dozens of other cases will be set for trial before the end of the year.
Click here to read more about the verdict in Ferlanti.
Click here to read more about the verdict in Hess.