Case against R.J. Reynolds goes to jury in Gainesville
After ten days of testimony, the case brought by the widow of a Gainesville-area man against the tobacco corporation R.J. Reynolds went to the jury at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
A panel of eight jurors are asked to decided whether Arthur Lamar Hall was addicted to cigarettes containing nicotine and if that was the cause of his death from lung cancer in 1995.
Also key to the case is the question of whether the tobacco company concealed or omitted information regarding the dangerous health effects of cigarettes.
Attorney Mark Avera, speaking for Hall’s widow, Amanda Jean Hall, said that she takes some responsibility for her husband’s lifelong smoking habit.
He asked the jury to award her $15 million in compensatory damages, saying the award should be equal to the amount of pain and suffering she has gone through at the time of his death and in the 15 years since.
The plaintiff’s attorneys are also seeking punitive damages.
“I say there is no question that R.J. Reynolds should be held accountable for its poor choices,” Avera said.
Speaking for the tobacco company, attorney Dennis Murphy said the case was indeed about choices but should focus on the personal choices made by Lamar Hall, who began smoking at 14 and continued for 38 years.
“Mr. Hall’s death could not be proven to be caused by smoking,” Murphy said in his closing statement, noting that Hall was aware of the risks, he could have quit smoking and nothing R.J. Reynolds did had any effect on his behavior.
He also suggested that Hall’s lung cancer could be a result of the 30 years he spent working as a carpenter.
The evidence, Murphy contends, shows that Hall was 100 percent responsible for his actions, and the tobacco company had no such responsibility.
Hall died in 1995; his death certificate lists the cause of death as lung cancer.
The case is the first to be heard in North Central Florida after a landmark ruling by the Florida Supreme Court in 2006. The high court upheld a jury verdict finding tobacco companies liable for smoking-related injuries and deaths, but it said smokers and their family members must bring individual suits to prove that smoking harmed them.
In the class-action suit known as the Engle case, a jury awarded $145 billion in punitive damages against the tobacco industry. The Florida Supreme Court reversed that award but opened the door to individual suits such as Jean Hall’s.
In closing, attorney Rod Smith said, “The defendents say this is about Mr. Hall, but it is R.J. Reynolds’ conduct that has brought us to this courtroom today.”
He asked the jury of eight to consider the value to be placed on Jean Hall’s losing “the most valuable thing in her life – the love of her life – forever.
“Lamar Hall was the perfect victim of the biggest conspiracy you will ever hear about,” Smith concluded, saying that tobacco companies had lied to American families for the past 50 years about the dangers of smoking and the risk of lung cancer.
“”His widow sits in this courtroom today seeking justice, not sympathy,” Smith said.
By Diane Chun, Gainesville
