State: Justices uphold smoker's $750,000 award

TALLAHASSEE -- A former smoker who is beating his lung cancer scored another big win Wednesday when the Florida Supreme Court ruled that a lower appeals court was wrong to overturn his $750,000 jury award.

Wednesday's ruling moved Grady Carter closer than any other individual to getting a check from the tobacco industry through a smoker's lawsuit.

When a Jacksonville jury came back with Carter's award in August 1996, it was just the second time in 40 years of anti-smoking litigation that a cigarettemaker was ordered to pay damages.

"It really helped break through the wall of invincibility around the tobacco industry regarding litigation," said Edward Sweda, a senior attorney with an anti-smoking group, the Tobacco Control Research Center.

That first award -- $400,000 to the family of Rose Cipollone of New Jersey in 1988 -- was overturned on appeal and the lawsuit was later dropped.

Carter's verdict against Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. was also overturned by the 1st District Court of Appeal in 1998. But on Wednesday the state's high court reversed that decision.

Carter, 70, a retired air traffic controller who lives in the Orange Park suburb of Jacksonville, called the ruling a "great decision."

"I felt all along it was a good case and thought the Supreme Court would rule in our favor," said Carter, 70. "I knew it was going to come out sooner or later. I'm thankful that it came out today -- the day before Thanksgiving."

Brown & Williamson said it would ask the high court to reconsider its decision and was confident of eventually winning.

"This decision is in direct conflict with the United States Supreme Court decision in the Cipollone case," Brown & Williamson attorney John Finley said.

Those actions could take months before being resolved.

This summer, a class-action lawsuit in Miami produced a record $145-billion verdict, which was given final approval two weeks ago by the trial judge. The case still faces a prolonged appeals process by the five largest cigarette companies.

Brown & Williamson, which was assessed a $17.6-billion portion of that class-action verdict, is the nation's third-largest cigarettemaker. It is based in Louisville, Ky., and its brands include Kool, Capri, Raleigh, Viceroy, Carlton, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall.

Carter sued after contracting lung cancer, but lately his health has been good.

"So far, all of my checkups have been fine, but there is always that fear that it could come back," he said.

The Wednesday decision was on a 5-0 vote, with two of the court's justices not participating. The high court said the midlevel appeals court was wrong in ruling that Carter waited too long to sue and that the lawsuit was barred by a 1969 federal law barring lawsuits claiming the wording of the cigarette warning label is inadequate.

"Accordingly, we quash the district court's decision in this case," Justice Major Harding wrote for the court.

Floyd Matthews, a Jacksonville lawyer for Carter, said the decision reinstates the award. Brown & Williamson spokesman Mark Smith agreed.

Carter started smoking Lucky Strikes when he was 16 and smoked them for 25 years before he switched brands in 1972. He tried to quit several times but never could -- until he coughed up blood in late January 1991.

Nine days later, on Feb. 14, his cancer was diagnosed.

Carter sued almost four years later, on Feb. 10, 1995.

Two years ago, a third victory for a smoker came down in another Jacksonville case. A jury ordered Brown & Williamson to pay nearly $1-million to the family of Roland Maddox, who died after smoking Lucky Strikes for almost 50 years.

Besides being the first time a jury awarded punitive damages in a tobacco liability case, the Maddox decision was the first time a tobacco company had been found to have conspired with other companies to hide health risks from the public. It was also the biggest liability verdict ever against the industry at that time.

But that verdict also has been overturned by the 1st District Court of Appeal. The case is awaiting a trial date in West Palm Beach.

Back to State news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk