$94m awarded in 'free smokes to kids' case

A jury has ruled Lorillard Tobacco tried to entice black children to become smokers by giving out free cigarettes and has awarded US$71 million ($94.6 million) to the estate and son of a woman who died of lung cancer.

The Suffolk Superior Court jury announced its verdict yesterday.

Willie Evans alleged Lorillard introduced his mother, Marie Evans, to smoking as a child in the 1950s by giving her free Newport cigarettes at the Orchard Park housing project in Boston. He said his mother smoked for more than 40 years before dying of lung cancer at age 54.

The jury awarded her estate US$50 million in compensatory damages and gave her son US$21 million.

A lawyer for Lorillard said it did not give cigarettes to children and called the allegation that it intentionally gave samples to black children "disturbing".

The lawyer also said Evans made the decision to start smoking and continued to smoke even after she had a heart attack in 1985.

(Published by NZ Herald - December 16, 2010)