The law firm representing a smoker who won a $5 million verdict said the award marks the first time a Florida jury has blamed cigarettes for heart disease.

Retired auto mechanic Antonio CuCulino, 69, of Ramrod Key, who was diagnosed with heart disease in 1994, brought suit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court after a landmark Florida Supreme Court decision decertifying a class action against tobacco companies while giving smokers a leg up in individual cases.