A ruling from the Fourth District Court of Appeal suggests there’s a big-dollar difference between compensatory awards for minors and those for adult children in tobacco products liability cases.The Fourth DCA wiped out a jury’s $6 million award to a smoker’s adult daughter Wednesday, finding the amount “excessive” for a woman who no longer financially relied on her parent.
Plaintiff Gwendolyn Odom sued R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. over the loss of her mother Juanita Thurston. She won an $18.5 million final judgment before retired Palm Beach Circuit Judge Timothy McCarthy after a jury awarded the compensatory damages plus $14 million in punitive damages.
