right

The woman is just wasting her time. Expecting such an amount which is higher than the worth of Billionaire Abrahamovic is tantamount to expecting satan to make heaven. She should just go secretly and ask the company to give her atleast $1 million for her to start a business cos this verdict is as ridiculous as they come, so she shouldn't expect nada from it.

browncool: I suspect a fowl play in the judgment, common sense would tell the Jury including the chief judge that the verdict is very ridiculous. Remove such an amount from the world richest man's account, he will definitely feel the pinch. The aforementioned amount is just too outrageous

I thought you would first find out the average annual revenue of the company, their total net worth, etc. More so, the richest man is not the richest entity. Large corporations in the US are worth hundreds of billions of dollars!

An appeal would definitely reduce the damages amount, But the woman will smile to the bank. Trust me. Tobacco companies suffer a lot of Court settlements in America.

Nigeria jury is not as sophisticated as dis. In Nigeria a judge could dismiss dis as a no case or make a deal with the tobacco company and become richer.

Afam4eva: The woman is just wasting her time. Expecting such an amount which is higher than the worth of Billionaire Abrahamovic is tantamount to expecting satan to make heaven. She should just go secretly and ask the company to give her atleast $1 million for her to start a business cos this verdict is as ridiculous as they come, so she shouldn't expect nada from it.

hmmm ibo man, always thinking of nothing but starting a business.

Just give $1000 and she'll pack her thing!

talk2smat: A Florida jury has awarded the widow of a chain-smoker who died of lung cancer punitive damages of more than $23bn in her case against the RJ Reynolds Tobacco, the nation's second-largest cigarette maker. The judgment, returned on Friday night in a Pensacola court, was the largest in Florida history in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by an individual, according to the woman's legal team. Cynthia Robinson, of Pensacola, sued the cigarette maker, whose brands include Camel, in 2008 over the death of her husband, Michael Johnson. Johnson smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day for more 20 years and died of lung cancer in 1996 aged 36

"He couldn't quit. He was smoking the day he died," lawyer Chris Chestnut told the Reuters news agency on Saturday. After four weeks of hearings and 15 hours of jury deliberations, the jury said that the tobacco company was negligent in informing Robinson's husband, that smoking causes lung cancer and that nicotine is highly addictive.Compensatory damages of $7.3 million were awarded to the widow and the couple's child, and $9.6 million to Johnson's son from a previous relationship. The jury also awarded Robinson $23.6bn in punitive damages, according to the verdict forms. This wasn't a runaway jury, it was a courageous one-Chris Chestnut, plaintiff's lawyer

'Runaway verdict'

Jeffery Raborn, the vice-president and assistant general counsel for RJ Reynolds, said in a statement quoted by the New York Times that the company planned to challenge "this runaway verdict". "This verdict goes far beyond the realm of reasonableness and fairness and is completely inconsistent with the evidence presented," he said. Such industry appeals are often successful. A $28bn ruling against the tobacco firm Philip Morris in 2002 was reduced on appeal to $28m. Robinson's lawsuit originally was part of a large class-action litigation known as the "Engle case" filed in 1994 against tobacco companies.

A jury in that case returned a verdict in 2000 in favour of the plaintiffs, awarding $145bn in punitive damages, which at the time was the largest such judgment in US history. That award, however, was overruled in 2006 by the Florida supreme court, saying that the group was too disparate and each smoker smoked for different reasons. However, the court said individual cases could be filed. The Florida high court also let stand the jury's findings that cigarettes are defective, dangerous and cause disease, and that tobacco firms were negligent, meaning those issues did not have to be re-examined in future cases.

Credit: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/07/us-widow-wins-236bn-tobacco-payout-201472004712110239.html

just lyk dat? She go just enta world's richest? Haba, d ganja company don broke b dat

Stupid verdict





But knowing how their justice system works over there




I think she'll get few millions instead

Nice one

this is serious

Won't this money kill her faster than the tobacco?

When I first heard this, I thought I didn't hear well. The amount is so so huge.

ROFLMAO. Oyinbo insanity at its best.

chinziaski: This woman has been catapulted from a nobody to the 62nd richest person in the world! Yaga!!!!

You dey craze o This is a Missile Firing her to that spot.
The court award is staggering too much. Hope it doesn't get appealed. Guess I'm related to this Johnson of a family oo

Samabu07:
You dey craze o This is a Missile Firing her to that spot.
The court award is staggering too much. Hope it doesn't get appealed. Guess I'm related to this Johnson of a family oo

brother, its not a small something o! I won't attend the appeal o. I will bribe the appeal judge. Why will they appeal such a good news?

chinziaski: brother, its not a small something o! I won't attend the appeal o. I will bribe the appeal judge. Why will they appeal such a good news?

You no see life. See your mate dey smoke ciga since them born them...infact make we go buy our own...we must get sue British American Tobacco...We need them dollar bills mehn.

Samabu07:
You no see life. See your mate dey smoke ciga since them born them...infact make we go buy our own...we must get sue British American Tobacco...We need them dollar bills mehn.

hahahahha! No be small thing o! But them dan tell us already "smokers are liable to die young", so nothing we fit do, bros.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A decision by a Florida jury to impose punitive damages of $23.6 billion against RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company on Fridayis likely to be rejected on appeal or the award reduced substantially, lawyers with expertise in jury awardssaid on Sunday.The award, which the cigarette maker has said it will contest, likely falls outside the boundaries for punitive damages that the U.S. Supreme Court has laid down in a series of cases, the lawyers told Reuters.RJ Reynolds is a unit of Reynolds American (RAI.N), which last week announced it would acquire rival Lorillard Inc (LO.N) in a cash-and-stockdeal valued at $27.4 billion, including net debt.A Florida state court jury decided the award in a case brought by Cynthia Robinson of Pensacola. She is the widow of a chain smoker, Michael Johnson, who died of lung cancer in 1996 at 36.After a four-week trial and 11 hours ofdeliberations, the jury returned a verdict granting compensatory damages of $7.3 million to the widow and the couple's child, as well as $9.6 million to Johnson's son from a previous relationship.The same jury deliberated for another seven hours before awarding Robinson the additional sum of $23.6 billion in punitive damages, accordingto the verdict forms."Nobody thinks the $23 billion is goingto remain," said Richard Daynard, a law professor at Northeastern University and the chair of its TobaccoProducts Liability Project.Because of constitutional guarantees of due process, the Supreme Court has shown a reluctance to allow punitive damages that are far out of line with compensatory damages in the same case, he said. The court's general guideline is that the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages should be below 10:1.The court precedent, though, still leaves room for a punitive award of more than $150 million, Daynard said.Punitive damages are meant to discourage companies or people from bad conduct, while compensatory damages are intended to pay victims for their actual losses."There were all these concerns about runaway awards with regard to punitive damages," said Neil Vidmar, professor of law at Duke University."Some are saying that nine times (the compensatory damages) is the absolute limit, but actually many times, the courts have cut that down to one or two times."In 2008, the high court cut a $2.5 billion punitive damages award against Exxon Mobil Corp for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska to about $500 million, saying the ratio in that case should be 1:1 with compensatory damages.But there is "no mathematical bright line rule," said Professor Catherine Sharkey, a tort law expert at New York University School of Law.Robinson sued R.J. Reynolds in 2008 over the death of her husband, Michael, claiming the company conspired to conceal the health dangers and addictive nature of its products. Johnson, a hotel shuttle bus driver, smoked one to three packs a day for more 20 years, starting at age 13.Robinson's lawsuit originally was part of large class-action litigation known as the "Engle case," filed in 1994 against tobacco companies.A jury in that case issued a verdict in 2000 in favor of the plaintiffs, awarding $145 billion in punitive damages, which at the time was the largest such judgment in U.S. history.That award, however, was rejected in2006 by the Florida Supreme Court, which decertified the class. It agreed with a lower court that the group wastoo disparate and that each consumer had smoked for different reasons.But the court said the plaintiffs could file lawsuits individually. Robinson was one of them."I worked with juries for several decades, and I cannot put my mind on what they are doing, but the Florida jury (in awarding a huge sum)seems to be sending a message," said Duke's Vidmar. "This is a statement from the jury that this was an outrageous behavior by the tobacco companies."RJ Reynolds has paid about $114 million for 15 Engle-related cases that have been finalized, the company said in an April regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Another $180 million in damages are on appeal.Northeastern's Daynard noted that the $23 billion is close to the cost of theReynolds-Lorillard merger deal, adding that Wall Street should be aware of the potential for more huge damage awards."You're going to have a lot more caseswhere juries could find themselves similarly outraged," he said. "The reluctance of the tobacco companies to settle these cases, thinking they canhandle the cases as a matter of course,may be a mistake."The two cigarette makers face thousands of suits, but the impact has not been as dramatic as was expected a decade ago, and trials have given investors an idea of what the companies will pay.(Edited by Elebiju)

Such money will never be paid. So if the company was worth Dangote's fortune, they should close shop ?

Let her collect the $7.3 m compensatory damages first and start thanking God..

truth is in the end not a dollar would be paid out. do you know how much money the country makes from Tobacco companies.. ibeg no be only nigeria scam de joooh

#bless

2sExy1: The days of tobacco companies are numbered already with the advent of Vapes and Vapor, they wont be needed around, which is much more safe and healthier to smoke because it has no nicotine and other toxic chemicals.

Electronic cigarettes contain nicotine. As much as you want lol. You are correct that they are non-toxic( for the most part).
But e-cigarettes just don't look as cool as the real thing.

2sExy1: The days of tobacco companies are numbered already with the advent of Vapes and Vapor, they wont be needed around, which is much more safe and healthier to smoke because it has no nicotine and other toxic chemicals.

Are you sure? Are you in the know? Labels can be deceiving, please research about these so-called "safe" smokes.

OtunbaJega: The company already filed an appeal... she might not get even 1cent....

and what if they lose the appeal just like they lost the original case.

BoboYekini: Electronic cigarettes contain nicotine. As much as you want lol. You are correct that they are non-toxic( for the most part).
But e-cigarettes just don't look as cool as the real thing.

Well, it isn't as bad as cigarettes. it was invented by a Chinese guy whose father died from lung cancer. According to reports, the father was still smoking even on his death bed.

I wonder why people even smoke in the first place

The verdict goes far beyond the realm of reasonableness and fairness. $23.6 billion? How much is the company worth.

browncool: I suspect a fowl play in the judgment, common sense would tell the Jury including the chief judge that the verdict is very ridiculous. Remove such an amount from the world richest man's account, he will definitely feel the pinch. The aforementioned amount is just too outrageous

Me too, I suspect "Chicken play" in the matter. Dem send Mr Robinson to dey go smoke?

Warlord3000: Sounds like John Grisham again...

Loving this

lol. The Runaway Jury precisely

JEITO: I wonder why people even smoke in the first place

Abi o! My brother, it makes no sense at all. To use my hard earned money to buy a substance that contain poisons like nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar and start puffing away! A substance that does not benefit the body in any way - no vitamin, no minerals, no nothing. Despite these clear cases, many are still immersed in smoke today. I don't pity them

DaimlerBen:
Are you sure? Are you in the know? Labels can be deceiving, please research about these so-called "safe" smokes.

I have been following the industry since last year and there is a current BOOM in the US economy, one favorably designed to thwart and dwarf the liquor industry as well as the tobacco industry. the industry was indexed at over $1.6 billion, closely rivaling the viagra industry which is one of the largest, and has been earmarked to over take in a few years,possibly before the end of this year or early next year.

At the threshold of the events, the top dogs in the tobacco and liquor industry were trying all means to inhibit the growth of Vapor, marijuana, cannabis and hemp industry but you can't stop something heavier than you, you know? -- they knew that their days of dominance was numbered.

Today, the reverse is the case as there is a full blow take over coming in years ahead; I read that a 38 year old man left his silicon valley job to take up a management job for cannabis growers by helping to create climate that would favour the growth of the plant.

Bro, hemp, cannabis or marijuana is not as bad as we have been made to believe, no thanks to our ignorant and backward generation in these part of the world.

As a matter of fact, Cannabis Sativa is one of the most miraculous plant God blessed man with; there has been thesis and hypotesis that it can cure cancer, epiletic seizures, even the chronic one, its oil is a far better substitute for treating cancer in place of chemotherapy, which had badly damaged lives and skins of victims.

If not for our moronic leaders, hemp should be legalise for medical use in Nigeria.

DaimlerBen:
Are you sure? Are you in the know? Labels can be deceiving, please research about these so-called "safe" smokes.

http://drsircus.com/medicine/pharmaceutical-strength-marijuana

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/05/07/medical-marijuana-becoming-blockbuster-drug.aspx