Smoking damages ruled 'excessive'

Betty Bullock (l) started smoking at the age of 17

A court in California has overturned a record $28bn award to an ex-smoker who said that cigarettes had given her terminal lung cancer.

Tobacco companies are facing a string of lawsuits

Superior Court Judge Warren Ettinger agreed with tobacco manufacturer Phillip Morris that the amount awarded to long-term smoker Betty Bullock was excessive, reducing the award to $28m.

"After balancing all relevant considerations, the court ... determines from all evidence that an award of $28m is a more reasonable sum to be awarded against Philip Morris in these circumstances," the judge said.

However, he upheld the jury's earlier decision that Phillip Morris was at least partly responsible for Ms Bullock's cancer, and also denied the company's request for a new trial.

Phillip Morris says it plans to appeal that decision.

'Disgusting conduct'

Betty Bullock began smoking when she was 17-years old.

Last year she was diagnosed with lung cancer which has since spread to her liver.

Her lawyers had successfully argued that Phillip Morris had lured her into a life-long habit with fraudulent advertising and marketing.

"Their conduct was disgusting," Ms Bullock's lawyer, Michael Piuze, said.

"The defendant knew it was selling death, and it kept its mouth shut."

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

But in October the jury upped the award to $28bn in punitive damages, smashing a previous record award given to smoker Richard Boeken, who was awarded $3bn against Phillip Morris in 2001.

Mr Boeken, who died from cancer in January, later had his damages slashed to $100m and that figure is also awaiting the outcome of an appeal.

Mr Piuze said he was disappointed with the judge's decision as the reduced award represented only two-days-worth of tobacco sales for the company and "was not a real punishment".

Lengthy legal battles

Lawyers for the tobacco firm had argued that Ms Bullock's award was excessive and was used to punish the company.

Philip Morris attorney Peter Bleakely said the award was higher than the combined amounts of punitive damages awarded in all the cases in California in the past two decades, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Tobacco companies such as Phillip Morris have faced a string of lawsuits from smokers who claim that their products led to them contracting fatal illnesses.

But BBC correspondent Ian Pannell says that Ms Bullock is in the final stages of battling cancer and - like Mr Boeken - will probably never see a penny of the damage award.

Judge Ettinger echoed this in his decision, in which he noted that Phillip Morris had "not paid a penny" in damages relating to any individual lawsuit due to law cases dragging out for so many years in US courts.