backKing & Spalding secured a complete defense verdict on behalf of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company after a multi-week wrongful death trial in Miami-Dade County. Plaintiff sought compensatory damages of $3 million as well as punitive damages. After the first phase of the trial for compensatory damages, the jury returned a complete defense verdict, finding that Plaintiff failed to prove that the decedent was addicted to cigarettes containing nicotine and that such addiction was a legal cause of the decedent’s death.
The case is Marsh v. Philip Morris U.S.A. Inc. et al., No. 2012-026323-CA-01 (Fla. 11th Cir. Ct.).