Punitive damages award upheld in smoker death case

A California appeals court has upheld a $13.8 million punitive damages award against Philip Morris USA Inc. in a case involving the addiction, illness and death of a 45-year-old cigarette smoker. In the 2-1 ruling, the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles upheld the award by a Los Angeles County jury in the case of Betty Bullock, who had started smoking Marlboros in 1956 until she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2001. Ms. Bullock died in 2003.