BigClassActions.com
Advertisement

Lorillard Tobacco Faces $71 Million Settlement for Cigarette Giveaways to Children

- by

Boston, MA: Lorillard Tobacco Co, has been found guilty of attempting to entice African American children to become smokers, by giving out free cigarettes. The jury hearing the case has awarded $71 million in compensatory damages to the estate of a woman who died of tobacco-related lung cancer, and her son.

In the suit, Willie Evans claimed that his mother, Marie Evans, was introduced to smoking as a child in the 1950s when Lorillard gave her free Newport cigarettes at the Orchard Park housing project in Boston, where she lived at the time. According to Marie Evans' lawyers, she was just nine years of age when she received her first free cigarettes. At first she passed them on to her older sisters or traded them for candy. However, by the age of 13 she had begun to smoke. Mr. Evans claimed that as a result, his mother went on to smoke for the next 40 years, until her death from lung cancer at 54. According to video testimony given by Marie Evans prior to her death, she had tried to quit 50 times over the 40 years she smoked.

Mrs. Evans' estate was subsequently awarded $50 million in compensatory damages and the jury also awarded her son $21 million. A hearing on punitive damages is set to take place before the end of this year. Lorillard is expected to appeal the decision.

Legal Help

If you have a similar problem and would like to be contacted by a lawyer at no cost or obligation, please fill in our form on the right.

Reader Comments

Posted by

on
Can others still become a member in this class action law suit?

Add Your Comment on This Issue

Please read our comment guidelines before posting.


Note: Your name will be published with your comment.


Your email will only be used if a response is needed.

Request Legal Help