backKing & Spalding secured a significant success on behalf of client RJ Reynolds (RJR), after a Broward County jury returned a verdict of $675,000 against RJR ($450,00 medical expenses and $225,00 pain and suffering) and answered “no” to entitlement to punitive damages. The case was a retrial of a matter that saw the jury return a verdict of approximately $42 million.
Plaintiff Dawn Schlefstein developed COPD at age 49 after smoking cigarettes for more than 30 years. Mrs. Schlefstein filed suit in 2007 as an Engle progeny plaintiff, asserting claims for fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, negligence, and design defect arising from her COPD.
Plaintiff asked the jury for $14 million in noneconomic damages for what they described as 14 years of “torture” and “torment” following her COPD diagnosis, and to find entitlement to punitive damages, which could open the door to a significant multiplier in the second phase of the trial. After one day of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict awarding the agreed upon medical expenses, $225,000 in pain and suffering damages, and answered “No” to entitlement to punitive damages. This result is particularly notable given that the trial took place in Broward County, Florida, one of the most challenging venues in the country for corporate defendants.
The case was tried by Cory Hohnbaum, Patrick Price, and Logan Matthews with support from Priyanka Desai, Kevin Boyce, Katy Lehman, Val Leppert, Philip Green, and Drew Bell.