New tobacco damages award

A FLORIDA jury has awarded the family of a smoker $500,000(pounds 312,000) in damages against Brown and Williamson, the British-owned firm that made his brand of cigarettes.

The decision is only the third case in which a jury has decided that a tobacco company was negligent and awarded damages. The first, in 1988, was overturned on appeal and the second is still on appeal.

Roland Maddox smoked two packs of Lucky Strikes a day from the age of 16 until he gave up in 1995. A year later, he was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1997, aged 67.

He had laughed at the risks of smoking, calling the cigarettes "coffin nails," his friends said. His family sued Brown and Williamson, the company that makes Luckies, and yesterday the jury backed their charge that the company had been negligent, made a defective product and had hidden the risks of smoking.

The amount of money the the family will receive could well go up, as the jury has yet to decide on punitive damages.

Shares in BAT Industries plc, the British firm that owns Brown and Williamson, fell 3 per cent on the American stock exchange yesterday.