October 4, 2002

Insanity Reigns

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Philip Morris Cos., the No. 1 cigarette maker, was ordered Friday to pay a record $28 billion to a 64-year-old woman with lung cancer who blamed her tobacco addiction on the company's failure to warn her of the risks of smoking.

The train is off the tracks and the conductors, i.e.,the jury, are all nuts in this case. How can it be possible in anyone's wildest imagination that any damage award could be $28B in an individual tobacco case? What industry is next? Guns, automobiles, food. People who do stupid things don't deserve damages for the consequences of their actions. Hot coffee at McDonald's, anyone?

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