3 Firms Ordered to Pay Ex-Smoker $38 Million

A Florida jury ordered three tobacco companies to pay $37.5 million in compensatory damages to an ex-smoker who is gravely ill with oral and bladder cancer. But the award hinges on the upholding on appeal of a record punitive damages verdict in a Florida class-action case.

The jury in Miami ordered Philip Morris Cos., Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. and Liggett Group Inc. to pay the damages to John Lukacs, 76, and his wife. Lukacs, a real estate lawyer, lost his tongue to cancer and cannot speak.

Jurors also found that Lukacs is entitled to a share of $144.8 billion in punitive damages that were awarded in the Engle class-action case involving as many as 700,000 current and former Florida smokers. The July 2000 verdict, which tobacco companies say could bankrupt them, is moving slowly through appeals, and a ruling is unlikely before next year.