R.J. Reynolds Tobacco has to pay this woman how much?

http://ift.tt/1yKYVMM

Quote:

The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco company was whacked with a staggering $23.6 billion in punitive damages in a lawsuit brought by the widow of a chain smoker killed by lung cancer in 1996. A Pensacola jury also awarded Cynthia Robinson another $16.8 million in compensatory damages Friday, following a four-week trial that left a top Reynolds executive burning mad.

Which is it? Who does the $23.6 Billion go to?

Quote:

The jury deliberated for 11 hours before returning the compensatory payout of $7.3 million to Robinson and $9.6 million to the couple’s son. Seven hours later, they returned with the multibillion-dollar punitive award.

As for the details of the claim:

Quote:

<snip> on behalf of her husband, Michael Johnson Sr., who died at 36. He started smoking at 13, and the couple married six years before his death. The hotel shuttle bus driver smoked up to three packs a day for two decades<snip> “He couldn’t quit,” Cynthia Robinson told Reuters. “He was smoking the day he died.”

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