US Jury Orders Tobacco Firm to Pay Billions to Widow

A jury in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida has ordered the country's second largest cigarette maker to pay $23.6 billion to the widow of a longtime chain smoker who died of lung cancer at age 36. The jury also ordered the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company to pay $16.8 million in compensatory damages. Cynthia Robinson sued Reynolds in 2008 on behalf of her late husband, Michael Johnson.  She claimed the company conspired to conceal the health dangers and addictive nature of...

© La Voix de l'Amérique - dimanche 20 juillet 2014