Butt surely not $3 billion?
A California jury has punished the firm that sold a cancer sufferer his poison
ONE reason that Angelenos like the privacy of their cars is that they can smoke in them without the sanctimonious disapproval of their neighbours. The tellings off which smokers must endure in California are as nothing, however, compared with the punishment just dished out in Los Angeles to Philip Morris. On June 6th a jury in the LA County Superior Court ordered America's largest tobacco firm to pay $5.5m in compensation to Richard Boeken, a smoker with cancer—oh, and a cool $3 billion in punitive damages.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Butt surely not $3 billion?”
From the June 9th 2001 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from United States
Pam Bondi seems like a relatively safe pair of hands
But is America’s next attorney-general an independent operator?
Checks and Balance newsletter: Joe Biden’s farewell shot at the oligarchy
The outgoing president warns of a new “tech-industrial complex”
A protest against America’s TikTok ban is mired in contradiction
Another Chinese app is not the alternative some young Americans think it is
Joe Biden wound up serving Donald Trump
In some ways, his administration will look less like an interregnum than like MAGA-lite
How bad will the smoke be for Angelenos’ health?
Expect more sickness and disrupted schooling
Should you have to prove your age before watching porn?
America’s Supreme Court weighs a Texan law aimed at protecting kids