A Massachusetts state court jury has found R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company liable in a wrongful death case, awarding $200 million in damages.
[BOSTON, MA] - A Massachusetts state court jury has held R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company accountable to a close-knit Massachusetts family for the wrongful death of their matriarch, Rita Jones. Rita began smoking as a 16-year-old after receiving free samples of Newport menthol cigarettes on the streets of Roxbury in 1964.
Walter Kelley of Bernheim Kelley Battista, LLC, and Randy Rosenblum represented Treniece Jones as the personal representative for Rita Jones' estate in Suffolk Superior Court, claiming negligence, civil conspiracy, and defective product liability. Following an exhaustive three-week trial and approximately 13 hours of deliberation, the Boston jury sided with the plaintiff on all counts and awarded a total of $200 million in damages based on the evidence they were presented and the law they were instructed on. This amount included $25 million in compensatory damages for Rita’s medical bills and pain and suffering, $5 million to each of Rita's five children, and $150 million in punitive damages to punish RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company for their willful, wanton, and reckless conduct that caused Rita Jones’ lung cancer and death.
Rita Jones was a heavy smoker of one to two packs of Newport 100 cigarettes per day for over 50 years, despite numerous unsuccessful attempts to quit dating back to the early 1980s. She was diagnosed with metastatic stage 4 lung cancer in July 2015 after presenting to the emergency room with complaints of shortness of breath. After three long years of fighting for her life and enduring unimaginable pain and suffering, Rita Jones finally succumbed to her cancer diagnosis in August 2018. Rita was survived by her loving husband of 51 years, her five adult children, and her grandchildren.
Walter Kelley, BK attorney and counsel for the plaintiff, said, “As I explained to the jury in my opening statement and circled back to repeatedly at the end of the case in my closing argument, the evidence in this case speaks for itself. Rita's story began in 1964 with a heartless greedy industry that chose profits over people, and it ended in 2018 with needless human tragedy.”
Kelley continued, “We were fortunate to have a smart, diverse, and thoughtful jury of eight individuals from Boston who listened carefully to the evidence presented over the course of three weeks. Armed with jury instructions, over 300 exhibits, and their collective memories of the expert and fact witness testimony they observed in the courtroom, they deliberated as a group for almost 13 hours before agreeing on a fair and just verdict for a righteous and well-deserving family.”
The jury's decision held Reynolds accountable for its strategy throughout the trial of attempting to shift the entire responsibility for Jones' death onto her, attributing zero blame to the company, despite her initial receipt of free cigarette samples. Shortly after being handed the free sample packs of Newport cigarettes in Roxbury, she purchased her first pack of cigarettes and remained loyal to Newport cigarettes for the following five decades.
This landmark verdict stands as a poignant reminder of the perils of smoking defectively designed menthol cigarettes and underscores the importance of holding tobacco companies accountable for the decisions they made to put profits over people. The plaintiff’s legal team takes immense pride in having assisted the family of Rita Jones in their quest for justice.
Kelley commented, “As long, difficult, and expensive as the fight was, we always trusted we would prevail because the evidence, the truth, and the law of Massachusetts were always on our side.”
“It was a hard-fought and well-deserved win for a righteous family,” said Kelley. “They would have chosen a time machine over a large verdict every day of the week,” Kelley concluded.