Widower of tobacco trial plaintiff is 'disappointed'
The record judgment awarded to Ralph Della Vecchia's wife, Angie, and others in a class-action lawsuit is overturned.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published May 22, 2003
NEW PORT RICHEY - The phone at Ralph Della Vecchia's tan stucco home rang all day Wednesday, each time someone else who just had heard the news.
His late wife's legacy - the record-setting $145-billion judgment against the tobacco industry - had just been wiped out by an appellate court.
"I'm very disappointed," said Della Vecchia, 67, his face worn and sad. "That's all I can say now."
His wife, Angie, was one of three lead plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit against Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson, Lorillard and the Liggett Group. They claimed the big tobacco companies had lied to Florida's sick smokers about the deadly nature of their product.
Mrs. Della Vecchia died on July 25, 1999, halfway through the two-year trial. The cancer that started in her lungs had spread to her brain and the rest of her body. She was 53.
Had she held on, Della Vecchia told reporters at the time, his wife would have been "ecstatic" when the Miami jury awarded $145-billion to the group of smokers on July 14, 2000. It was the largest punitive damage verdict in U.S. history.
The amount was based on the $12.7-million in damages awarded to Mrs. Della Vecchia and the other two lead plaintiffs, multiplied by the estimated 300,000 to 700,000 Florida smokers who joined the class-action case.
Attorneys for the tobacco companies called the calculation "horribly flawed." Each individual has a different history of smoking and health problems, those attorneys argued, so each case must be considered separately.
The 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami agreed Wednesday. The three-judge panel said the smokers could not band together in a class-action lawsuit.
It was too early Wednesday afternoon for Della Vecchia to say what he would do next. In between the calls he fielded from friends and reporters, he said, "I'm waiting for my attorney to call."
- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Bridget Hall Grumet can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is bhall@sptimes.com
