$1 Million Judgment Against Tobacco Cos. Upheld

A $1-million award to a smoker in a negligent-design lawsuit against two major tobacco companies has been upheld by the Missouri Court of Appeals, reported Sept. 29.

Brown & Williamson and Philip Morris were ordered to pay $1 million to plaintiff Michael Thompson. The state's Western District appeals court rejected the companies' argument that the plaintiff should have been required to submit an alternative cigarette design.

Thompson said that cigarettes were defective and negligently designed, and that tobacco companies failed to warn customers about the dangers of smoking. Thompson, a throat-cancer survivor, sued the makers of Marlboro and GPC cigarettes in 2000. A jury ruled that the tobacco companies were 50 percent at fault for Thompson's illness.

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