Summerlin v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

Oct 15, 2018

OUTCOME: $43.1 million verdict.

In the first ever lung cancer trial involving claims of tobacco and asbestos exposure, a Boston jury awarded a total of $43.1 million dollars to plaintiffs, Joanna Summerlin (widow) and Chris Summerlin ... (son), for Louis Summerlin’s lung cancer and wrongful death caused by defectively designed cigarettes and fraudulent misrepresentations regarding the dangers of smoking by the tobacco industry. Mr. Summerlin passed away in 2015 of lung cancer at the age of 73. He worked as a brake mechanic from 1959 to 1984 where he was exposed to asbestos and smoked menthol cigarettes for more than 50 years. The case proceeded to trial against R.J. Reynolds for manufacturing the Salem and Kools cigarettes Mr. Summerlin smoked from about 1957 through 1984, Philip Morris USA for manufacturing the Marlboro Menthol cigarettes Mr. Summerlin smoked from about 1984 through 2009, and Hampden Automotive Sales Corporation (“Hampden”), a manufacturer of asbestos-containing brakes that Mr. Summerlin used at his employment in the late 1950s through the early 1960s. At trial medical doctors testified that both cigarette smoking and exposure to asbestos could independently cause lung cancer but when both are present there is a synergistic effect that is more than additive. Over the course of this five week trial, the evidence established that the menthol cigarettes smoked by Mr. Summerlin from about 1957 through 2009 were defectively designed because they contained high levels of nicotine (above the threshold for establishing and maintaining addiction), excessive amounts of tar and carcinogens, and menthol. Experts in health behavior, psychology and neuroscience explained to the jury that menthol is not just a flavor—it is an anesthetic that numbs the throat, provides smokers with greater exposure to nicotine, and when added to cigarettes, activates more nicotine receptors in the brain. Studies have also shown that it is more difficult for smokers of menthol cigarettes to quit smoking than smokers of non-menthol cigarettes. Even though internal documents revealed that the tobacco companies knew that most menthol smokers start as teenagers they targeted their advertising and marketing of menthol brands towards the youth to initiate new generations of customers. While the jury found that all of the cigarettes Mr. Summerlin smoked were unreasonably dangerous and defectively designed, it concluded that only the Salem and Kool cigarettes manufactured by R.J. Reynolds and smoked by Mr. Summerlin up until 1984 were a substantial factor in causing his lung cancer.