Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million to a former smoker

SHOOT: Hope she gets it although no amount of money is really compensation. What is the lesson? Don't start smoking.

clipped from news.yahoo.com MIAMI – A South Florida jury on Thursday ordered Philip Morris USA to pay $300 million to a former smoker, agreeing that the tobacco company's negligence was the cause of her emphysema. The award for Cindy Naugle, 61, is the largest to date among thousands of lawsuits filed in the state against tobacco companies. "The jury saw her condition," Todd Falzone, who also represented Naugle, said in a statement. "We think that they felt it. She needed to rest for five minutes to catch her breath after making the 7 step walk to the witness stand." Naugle started smoking in 1968 when she was 20 because she thought they "made her look older." After several attempts to quit, she stopped smoking in 1993 with the aid of a nicotine patch. She requires 24-hour oxygen and must travel in a wheelchair because walking leaves her exhausted, her attorneys said. Falzone said Naugle spends every minute "as if she were drowning."