David Golub, attorney for Barbara Izzarelli of Norwich, said Thursday a federal jury in Bridgeport made the award late Wednesday against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. after a two-week trial. He said a judge will decide additional punitive damages next month, which could bring the award to $24 million.
Izzarelli, who is 49 and smoked Salem cigarettes for more than 25 years, underwent surgery at 36 that resulted in the removal of her larynx. She must breath through a hole in her throat and has no sense of smell, and can only eat soft foods, Golub said.
"I'm ecstatic," Izzarelli said. "Now maybe I can go to any doctor I wish."
In February, a judge in Florida reduced $300 million in damages awarded to a smoker against Philip Morris USA to nearly $39 million, concluding a jury was moved by emotion rather than hard evidence. The $300 million had been the highest damage award among thousands of lawsuits filed by Florida smokers against tobacco companies.
The lawsuits were filed after the Florida Supreme Court in 2006 threw out a $145 billion class-action jury award for all Florida smokers, by far the highest punitive damage award in U.S. history. The court said each smoker's case had to be decided individually, but smoker's don't have to individually prove key findings of the original jury, that tobacco companies knowingly sold dangerous products and hid smoking risks from the public.
"Barbara Izzarelli was targeted by Reynolds when she was 12 years old with a product specifically designed to addict her," Golub said.
Howard denied the company targets youths. He said cigarettes have come with warnings since the 1960s.
The jury found Izzarelli's damages totaled nearly $14 million, but ruled that both Reynolds and Izzarelli bore responsibility for her smoking injuries. The jury allocated responsibility 58 percent to Reynolds and 42 percent to Izzarelli, reducing her award from $13.9 million to $8.0765 million.
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