Jury awards former smoker $28 billion in punitive damages

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A jury awarded a record-shattering $28 billion in punitive damages Friday to a former smoker who sued Philip Morris Inc. for fraud and negligence. <br><br>The Superior Court jury awarded

Friday, October 4th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A jury awarded a record-shattering $28 billion in punitive damages Friday to a former smoker who sued Philip Morris Inc. for fraud and negligence.

The Superior Court jury awarded the amount to Betty Bullock, 64, who started smoking when she was 17 and was diagnosed last year with lung cancer that has since spread to her liver.

Last month, the jury ordered the tobacco company to pay Bullock $750,000 in economic damages and $100,000 for pain and suffering.

Before Friday's verdict, the biggest verdict won by an individual against a tobacco company was $3 billion, awarded in June 2001. Philip Morris was ordered to pay the amount to Richard Boeken, a former heroin addict with cancer who died in January. However, the verdict was later reduced by a judge to $100 million.

During Bullock's trial, Philip Morris did not try to defend its past. Instead, the company turned the spotlight on Bullock and her decision to smoke. The strategy was a major shift from previous defense efforts.

``If she had stopped smoking, even in the 1980s, she would not have lung cancer today,'' Peter Bleakley, an attorney representing Philip Morris, told the jury.

Bullock's lawyer, Michael Piuze, argued that Philip Morris concealed the dangers of cigarettes with a widespread disinformation campaign that began in the 1950s. He told jurors it was ``the largest fraud scheme ever perpetrated by corporations anywhere.''

Piuze used photographs of Bullock, cigarette ads from her teenage years and internal tobacco industry documents to lay out his contention that Philip Morris concealed the dangers of cigarettes.

The case has drawn added interest because it follows an Aug. 5 state Supreme Court ruling that grants cigarette makers a new window of immunity. The decision said most statements and acts by the tobacco companies between 1988 and 1998 cannot be used as evidence against them because of a law, now repealed, shielding them from liability.

Some analysts think the ruling will give cigarette makers ammunition to overturn three recent plaintiff awards in California _ including the Boeken verdict, which was also won by Piuze.