The plaintiff’s father began smoking when he was 15 years old, during the 1950s.  He was only 41 when he died of lung cancer.  At the time, the plaintiff, Brannock & Humphries’ client, was just 13.

In her wrongful death action, the plaintiff charged Philip Morris with fraudulently concealing from the American public for more than 40 years that it intentionally designed its cigarettes to be powerfully addictive.  She also alleged that Philip Morris had conspired with other cigarette manufacturers that were doing the same.

At trial, Philip Morris agreed that its cigarettes caused the plaintiff’s father to develop lung cancer, which eventually killed him.  But still, Philip Morris denied liability because it claimed that he was not addicted to those cigarettes, and further that he did not fall prey to the cigarette industry’s decades-long conspiracy.  At the end of a ten-day trial, the jury rejected Philip Morris’s defense, returning a verdict of $2.5 million for the plaintiff’s loss of her father.

Brannock & Humphries proudly provided support at trial to the two firms trying the case on the plaintiff’s behalf—Dolan, Dobrinsky, Rosenblum & Bluestein and The Wilner Firm—and will handle the expected post-trial motions and appeal filed by Philip Morris.